By Lauren Schiavone
Hometown Weekly Staff
Visitors at the Islington Branch Library last Tuesday were lucky enough to witness local author Lynne Viti read poems fresh from her new book, “The Walk to Cefalù.” The morning reading awakened listeners to Viti’s most recent work, a collection of poetry based on a laborious hike through a Sicilian village.
Visitors pulled up chairs and lived Viti’s stories for the first time, experiencing them all as unique moments. Viti, Senior Lecturer Emerita in the Writing Program at Wellesley College, easily connected to the audience, and left a lasting impression; she took her local experiences and spun them across the village in Cefalù, then back to where her roots are — and her audience’s roots, as well — in Westwood.
“You do not see a country unless you walk it,” Viti shared of her time in Italy. Her poems center around challenge, reflection, and loss. Written during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, “The Walk to Cefalù” connects the audience to nature and humanity, no matter where they’re experiencing Viti’s words. Based on a difficult 15 mile hike in Sicily, the journey treks through mountains and the coast along the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Describing family dynamics and breaking down specific lines, Viti shared that popular contemporary poets typically write about themselves — but that her writings may not be completely based in reality. She asked the question: what is reality? The introspection is what drove the work, and the curiosity furthered it. Poets and artists in the audience were intrigued by the concept of writing that wasn’t self-focused.
Particularly fond of experiencing what was never spoken aloud, Viti shared stories about her father coming back from war after joining the US Navy in 1942. “You never get the whole story. You have to fill in the gaps,” she said. “Telling it, that’s my job.”
Lynne Viti’s book of poetry, “The Walk to Cefalù”, is available now online at https://lynneviti.wordpress.com — the website also lists upcoming events and readings.
