Marco Cardetta "... dal mare. Nero di Odessa"

April 11, 2026·23 min·2 clips

Marco Cardetta returns with a poetry collection where he claims to be more interested in life than biographies.

The episode begins with host Livio welcoming back author Marco Cardetta to discuss his new poetry collection 'Dal mare, nero di Odessa', published by Le Flaneur Edizioni. Cardetta immediately addresses his stated preference for life over biographies, framing it as a way to orient readers toward his literary vision. He delves into a critique of language, arguing that words can impoverish reality and serve as a technology that humans use to conceptually appropriate the world. Cardetta references Yuval Noah Harari's 'Sapiens' to discuss storytelling as a cognitive foundation. He contrasts the siege of words with the siege of silence, linking the latter to distorted language used by political power, citing examples like Bush's rhetoric and contemporary war narratives. Cardetta then introduces his poetry collection, describing it as a 22-stanza novel in verse, comparing it to Spoon River Anthology but with more intertwined narratives. He highlights two key characters, Roman and Elia, representing the old and new. The discussion shifts to the dedication 'ai pesci', which Cardetta explains through Tantric philosophy, viewing all existence as cells of a divine organism. He explores the mythological and historical layers of Odessa, noting its multicultural origins under Catherine the Great and Italian influences, including architecture and music like 'O Sole Mio'. Cardetta shares his personal connection to Odessa from a 2011-2012 visit, where he was fascinated by its identity as a city of both citizens and strangers. The episode includes a reading of the first poem, 'L'epitaphio stupido di Roman', and the penultimate mystical poem. Cardetta concludes by recommending 'L'ultima immagine' by James Hillman and Silvia Ronchey, connecting it to his themes of inner images versus external ones. The host notes that a previous interview with Ronchey is available in the podcast archive.

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