A Crown of Flames: Selected Poems & Aphorisms

Cover art by Julio Labra

Author photo by Dino Ignani

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"Flaminia Cruciani's language holds the vivid and evocative between its fingers like glue and lets us see the natural world and mysteries of the cosmos. A Crown of Flames is a celebration that delves into the mysteries of human civilization, illuminating the hidden depths of our shared human experience. Cruciani's words evoke a sense of awe and reverence for the natural world. Each poem in this collection feels like a masterful exploration of the soul, inviting readers to see the world in new and profound ways."

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-Tshaka Campbell, Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, author of Tunnel Vision (NaturalKink Enterprises, 2018)

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"Flaminia Cruciani's A Crown of Flames is a lush, often times terrifying, mythic, end/restart of civilization-a tour of the history of literature, philosophy, and western ideals-churning images that range between pastoral and apocalyptic. A book of revelations-quixotic, Odyssean, Catholic, and quintessentially Italian."

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--Linda Ravenswood, Winner of the Oxford Prize in Poetry and Edwin Markham Prize in Poetry

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"Flaminia Cruciani--a high priestess of poetry; steadfast custodian of word and metre--burns meanings into visions; scolds thoughts into actions. A Crown of Flames bears witness in English to the breadth and depth of her inspiration."

--Marco Sonzogni, Director of New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation, Victoria University of Wellington

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Flaminia Cruciani was born in Rome. She holds a BA in Archeology and History of Ancient Near East Art and a PhD in Oriental Archeology from the University of Rome, La Sapienza. For many years, Cruciani participated in the annual excavation campaigns at Ebla as a member of the Italian archaeological expedition in Syria. Lezioni di immortalità, la vita, gli antichi, il senso della archeologia, based on her extensive knowledge of archaeology and poetry, (Mondadori, 2018), won the Premio Montale Fuori Di Casa "Sezione Saggistica" prize in 2019. Cruciani works as a consultant for several archaeological projects coordinated by the University of Rome, La Sapienza, and the Municipality of Rome.As a creative writer, Flaminia Cruciani has published Sorso di notte potabile (LietoColle, 2008), Dentro (Pulcinoelefante, 2008), Frammenti (Pulcinoelefante, 2013), Lapidarium (Puntoacapo, 2015), Semiotica del male (Campanotto, 2016), Piano di evacuazione (Samuele Editore, 2017), a selection of her poems translated into English, We Were Silent in the Same Language (Gradiva Publications, 2018) and Chora, co-authored with Ilaria Caffio (Spagine, Fondo Verri, 2018). Her anthology of poems translated into Spanish, Callábamos en la misma lengua, Sonámbulos Ediciones, was published in Granada, Spain in 2020.Flaminia Cruciani's poems have been published in numerous anthologies and translated into Arabic, Bulgarian, English, French, Korean, Mandarin, Romanian and Spanish. She is regularly invited to international poetry festivals around the world. She is a member of the Académie Européenne Des Sciences, Des Arts Et Des Lettres of France.

Steven Grieco-Rathgeb, a multilingual American-Swiss- Italian poet, writes in English and Italian. Married with two children, is presently based in Rome and Jaipur (Rajasthan, India).In 1979, Grieco-Rathgeb met Mani Kaul (1944-2011), a major film director of the Indian Nouvelle Vague. He became his lifelong friend, and his follower in the field of poetics and philosophy of art.Grieco-Rathgeb has published an Italian poetry collection Maschere d'oro (Golden Masks), Biblioteca Cominiana, 1997, which appeared alongside texts by Yves Bonnefoy, Charles Tomlinson and Francesco Tentori. He is one of the commended winners of the Wladimir Devidé 2013 Haiku Award, Osaka, Japan.Since 1980, Grieco-Rathgeb has contributed poems and critical essays to Indian, Italian and international reviews.Some readings and lectures: "Iris," Department of English, Rajasthan University 2006; Sahitya Akademi, Delhi 2005; Italian Embassy Culture Institute, Delhi, 2006, with his translations of Mirza Ghalib's ghazals, which were later published in Italy and presented again in 2010 under the auspices of the Indian embassy in Rome.

David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press), a book reviewed by Gustavo Arellano (¡Ask a Mexican!), Curtis Marez (University Babylon), and founding member of Ozomatli, Ulises Bella. Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. Romero's work has been published in literary magazines in the United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, and Canada. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero's work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero offers a scholarship for high school seniors interested in spoken word and social justice: "The Romero Scholarship for Excellence in Spoken Word."