Sins of the Father: Poetic Representation of the Inscrutable Life and Secrets of a Sicilian Immigrant

These poems are a representation of the early life of my paternal grandfather, a reluctant immigrant from Sicily. I am emboldened and inspired by H. L. Goodall’s writings on the (secret) life of his father, and the toxicity and disorientation of family secrets as well as Laurel Richardson’s description of using poetic inquiry to “concretize emotions, feelings and moods – the most private kinds of feelings, so as to creative experience itself to another person”.