Vittoria Repetto, a Welcoming Presence on the NYC Poetry Scene, Has Died

Author: Sarah Sarai

April 20, 2020

New York based poet Vittoria Repetto was who she was, a “guinea butch dyke,” pretty much throughout her life (1951-2020). She was taken by Covid-19 this week which is enraging given that she worked so hard to keep herself healthy.

We were warm acquaintances who tracked each other’s lives; she tried to instruct me in Intermittent Fasting (good luck with that) and we cheered on each other’s poetry. The last time I saw her was in Nov. 2019 at the BGSQD where she read her poems.

Vittoria hosted the Women’s/Trans’ Poetry Jam & Open Mic at Bluestockings Bookstore and was vice president of the Italian American Writers Association, both for many years. An alert and welcoming presence, she is already missed. As novelist Susan Stinson noted, “ I know she helped make worlds I love.” 

Click to read three of Vittoria’s poems in EOAGH.  

-Sarah Sarai, April 19, 2020