Kitty Genovese was stabbed and murdered across the street from her apartment building in 1964. The poems of My Tarantella by Jennifer Martelli center around this event, the reporting surrounding it (there were 38 supposed witnesses, although this was later disputed and no evidence supported this claim), her own relationship to Kitty, and to the space she inhabits, both emotionally and physically. Kitty appears in photographs, stenciled on walls, in the theater.
In one poem, the narrator tells her friends "I've been writing about Kitty Genovese because she looks like everybody I'm related to," (14). In another, the narrator addresses Kitty directly, saying "I am breaking my own rule talking to the dead for the sake of the living. I want to imply a sense of intimacy between us. I want witnesses and eavesdroppers," (35) and a sense of intimacy is exactly what is achieved over the course of the collection.
The author's poem vary in style (letters, free verse, couplets, lists), but are very much rooted in specific locations. The author explores her relationships to those locations, much of them centering around Boston.
She draws from architecture, plays, documentaries, and overheard conversations throughout the collection. Jenn Givhan calls this collection "haunted and haunting," reinforced by gruesome details and startling imagery throughout.
Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Tarantella-VIA-Folios-Jennifer-Martelli/dp/1599541300
An interview with the author: https://therumpus.net/2018/12/the-rumpus-interview-with-jennifer-martelli-2/
A review: https://ovunquesiamoweb.wordpress.com/archive/current-issue-vol-2-issue-2/review-of-jennifer-martellis-my-tarantella/
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