English professor breathes life into poetry

Professor Peter Covino, an English and creative writing professor at the University of Rhode Island, doesn’t have the typical background that most professors have.

Covino was born in Southern Italy as a brother to four sisters.  At the age of 3, his mother’s relatives packed up their life and immigrated to America, leaving one sister behind.  Covino settled on Long Island, a lifestyle much different from his birthplace. Instead of attaining a degree in English, he received his M.S. degree from the Columbia School of Social Work and followed that career choice.  It was through this that he discovered his love for poetry in the early ‘90s.

“Peter Covino is one of the treasures at URI,” English professor Sarah Kruse said in an email. “An incredibly accomplished poet, scholar, translator, and editor, Prof. Covino is brilliant in analyzing the nuances, linguistic sophistication, and sonic resonances in poetry. As an instructor in both the study of poetics and in the art of poetry writing, Prof. Covino is profoundly insightful, and knows exactly how to communicate and foster the growth of poetry in his students. Having worked with him on both my scholarly and creative writing, I never cease to be amazed at the multiple levels of poetry that he is able to explain and make accessible. Working with him has proved an enlightening experience that has caused me to plumb the depth of my own work and explore the complexity of experimental poetics. He is the perfect balance of a kind, challenging, and inspiring professor.”

“When I worked with abused children, I learned to use tender words,” said Covino. “That’s what inspired me to go back and get my Masters in English.” His first poetry reading was at a queer writer’s event in 1996, where famous poets Louise DeSalvo and Edvige Giunta were seated in the audience.  Covino received recognition and had his first poem published only one year later.

Since then, Covino’s career as a poet has strived. His first published work, “Straight Boyfriend,” was bound together in a small, narrow paperback cover. Although not many were in circulation, it received the 2001 Frank O’Hara Chapbook Prize. Covino expanded his work and wrote “Cut Off In The Ears Of Winter,” his first full-sized collection of poetry.

“My first book was very deep and emotional,” said Covino. “It describes my personal life and past.” The book conveys his feelings of confusion and misdirection with his gender preference, as well as the pain of leaving a sister behind in Italy.  Specifically, his poem “She Speaks to Me from the Birthing Waters” communicates his feeling of betrayal due to his sister giving birth to his niece in another country.

Covino has published a second book, “The Right Place to Jump,” tying himself back to his earlier studies of art history.  He describes it as “abstract, suprematist”, not only within the words, but the cover art as well.  With its fragmented lines and various locations as titles, it essentially “jumps” from one topic to another.  He relates it closely to works of Malevich.  One of his poems, “Malevich: Thirty-Four Drawings”, directly references the famous Russian Suprematist artist.

The social-worker-turned-professor has a third book in the making, “Armies in the Blood.”

“I want this book to focus on one subject as opposed to my second book,” said Covino.  “‘The Right Place to Jump’ did exactly as the titled stated, jumping around from one poem to another.”

His third book will revolve mainly around an idea published in “Straight Boyfriend,” but expanded and more in-depth.

Covino said he is greatly influenced by Gertrude Stein, a famous poet of Modernist literature. One of her greatest pieces, Tender Buttons, is available at the university’s library. Much to Covino’s surprise, it is a first edition of the epic. Tender Buttons is one poem made into a small book, separated into three sections—food, objects, and rooms. Stein openly discusses her relationship with her life partner Alice B. Tokas and formats her poem in a long, narrative style. Covino is most drawn to the book because of how Stein was brave enough to write of her romantic life, and the fact that it was published by women. At the time of publication, in the 1910s, it was rare to see women hold a high position in literature.

“Stein uses an avant-garde approach to her works, something unheard of during her time,” said Covino.

As a professor, he encourages the open-door policy and urges student-professor interaction.  He invites all students, even ones he has never had in class, to pull up a chair and join discussions with other students visiting his office.

The walls are lined from floor to ceiling with books of art history, his work, and other poets’ works that have inspired him. Stanza, a group of lines in a poem, translates from Latin to mean “room”, where each stanza acts as a different room, and the poet invites readers to their house of thoughts with each poem created.

“These are beautiful spaces, and they mean so much to us,” said Covino.