My Poetry Corner April 2017 features “Another Love Poem: Even in Hell” by American poet, Angela Consolo Mankiewicz (1944-2017). Born in Brooklyn, New York, she moved – against her will – with her parents to Los Angeles at the age of fourteen. But the gods had other plans for her. In 1968, her path crossed that of Richard Mankiewicz, twelve years older, and altered the course of her life.

In “Writing Down the Words” (Istanbul Literary Review, September 2011 Edition), Angela ruminates:

I wonder if I will curse my father
for the even fewer words he said to me
of any value: have you considered the age difference?
Yes, I said, but nothing can be done about that.
No, he said, and it does not matter today,
but may when he’s older. Yes, I said,
but nothing can be done about that either.
No, he said. The end of my father’s wisdom,
the end of his words.
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