Pier Paolo Pasolini, born March 5, 1922, murdered November 2, 1975. Marxist
homosexual Italian poet and filmmaker, called the most important Italian poet
since D'Annunzio. Books include The Ashes of Gramsci (1957), The Religion of My Time (1961), Poetry in the Form of a Rose (1964), To
Transfigure, To
Organize (1971); among his films are Accattone, Mamma Roma, The Gospel
According to Saint Matthew, Hawks and Sparrows, Oedipus Rex, Teorema, Medea
(starring Maria Callas), The Decameron, Canterbury Tales, The Arabian Nights,
and Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom. He also published political and cultural
criticism. Pasolini's murder on the night of November 1-2, 1975, has
sometimes been termed an assasination, with evidence that it may have been
politically motivated, or else a reaction to his homosexuality (although the
details are still mysterious, he was reportedly clubbed by a boy he had
picked up, and then run over with his own car).
[source: Pier Paolo Pasolini: Poems, selected and translated by
Norman MacAffee with Luciano Martinengo, Vintage Books 1982.]
Patti has mentioned Pasolini as an influence. A well-known series of photos of her were taken after she had spray-painted his name and a large eye on a wall.
Patti's poem "italy (the round)" from Babel is subtitled "for pasolini" and includes references to film. Near the end are these lines:
the actress blows kisses to pierre pa-olo rising from the sea.Also, in the liner notes for Easter she writes;
victim of fascists and faggots and the purity of his art. waving
goodbye. the thrust of his arm. the trust of his view.
pasolini is dead. et morte. shower of petals. . . .
in vienna (wein) there is the area that surrounds and circulates through the hotel de france. the italian bikers. the shoppe of priests. leather jackets made in heaven fashioned from the skin of alain delon. here is the street of the trucks. here is the lantern row where hard bucks lean and strut and pose for the passing of pasolini.
Some links:
filmography for Pasolini