Don't Tell Mama!

Table Of Contents

Don’t Tell Mama! – Edited by Regina Barreca Introduction: Why Don’t Tell Mama! The Penguin Book of Italian American Writing?
Explanatory Notes and Caveats to the Introduction, by Hugo Barreca
Flavia Alaya
From Under the Rose: A Confession
Carol Bonomo Albright and Elvira Di Fabio
“Introduction to Rocchietti’s Lorenzo and Oonalaska“
Selections, Lorenzo and Oonalaska (1835)
George Anastasia
“Sinatra’s ‘Associations’ with the Mob”
Tony Ardizzone
“Holy Cards,” from Taking It Home: Stories from the Neighborhood
David Baldacci
From Wish You Well
Helen Barolini
“Buried Alive by Language,” from Chiaroscuro: Essays of Identity
From Umbertina
“Classic and Good,” from More Italian Hours and Other Stories
Regina Barreca
“My Grandmother, a Chicken, and Death,” from Too Much of a Good Thing Is Wonderful
Joy Behar
“My Life in Funeral Parlors,” from Joy Shtick: Or What Is the Existential Vacuum and Does It Come with Attachments?
Mary Jo Bona
From Claiming a Tradition: Italian American Women Writers
Dorothy Bryant
From Miss Giardino
Anne Calcagno
“Story of My Weight,” from Pray for Yourself and Other Stories
Phyllis Capello
“Careless Love: How Women Get to Hell”
Nancy Caronia
From “Macaronis,” from Paper Napkins
Grace Cavalieri
“Grandmother,” from Poems: New and Selected
Diana Cavallo
From A Bridge of Leaves
Thomas Centolella
“Ossi Dei Morti,” from Terra Firma
“Small Acts,” from Terra Firma
John Ciardi
“True or False,” from The Birds of Pompeii
“Useless Knowledge,” from The Birds of Pompeii
“The Evil Eye,” from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi
“In Place of a Curse,” from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi
“On Flunking a Nice Boy Out of School,” from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi
“Statement,” from The Collected Poems of John Ciardi
Rita Ciresi
“Lifelines,” from Mother Rocket
Robert Corrente
“Ellis Island”Gregory Corso
“Youthful Religious Experiences,” from Herald of the Autochtonic Spirit”
Peter Covino
“Poverty of Language”
“Infidel”
George Cuomo
From Family Honor: An American Life
Joseph Cuomo
“The First Night of the Wake”
Don DeLillo
From Underworld
Lina Del Tinto Demarsky
From Leaves of the Pharisees: The Dark Side of Italian-American Life
Mary Russo Demetrick
“I study Italian,” from First Pressing
“I stash treasures,” from Italian Notebook
Tina De Rosa
From Paper Fish
Louise DeSalvo
From Vertigo: A Memoir
From Breathless
Carole DeSanti
From “Ars Longa, Vita brevis?”
Rachel Guido DeVries
From Tender Warriors
Pietro Di Donato
From Christ in Concrete
W. S. Di Piero
“The Depot,” from Shadows Burning
“Sabbioneta to Parma,” from The Dog Star
Diane Di Prima
From Recollections of My Life as a Woman
John Fante
From The Brotherhood of the Grape
“Hail Mary,” from Dago Red
From Wait Until Spring, Bandini
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
“The Old Italians Dying,” from These Are My Rivers
Robert Ferro
From The Family of Max Desir
Camille Lavieri Forman
From A Perfect Time for Butterflies
Rocco Fumento
From Tree of Dark Reflection
Richard Gambino
From Blood of My Blood: The Dilemma of the Italian-Americans
Fred Gardaphé
From The Italian-American Writer: An Essay and an Annotated Checklist
Sandra M. Gilbert
“The Tidal Wave,” from Kissing the Bread: New and Selected Poems, 1969-1999
“Mafioso,” from Kissing the Bread
“Tailors,” from Kissing the Bread
Maria Mazziotti Gillan
“Opening the Door: 19th Street, Paterson,” from Things My Mother Told Me
“Secrets,” from Things My Mother Told Me
Dana Gioia
“Cleared Away,” from The Gods of Winter
“Money,” from The Gods of Winter
“Planting a Sequoia,” from The Gods of Winter
Daniela Gioseffi
“For Grandma Lucia La Rosa, ‘Light the Rose’,” from Word Wounds and Water Flowers
“American Sonnets for My Father,” from Word Wounds and Water Flowers
“Woman with Tongue Sculpted in Cheek,” from Eggs in the Lake
Arturo Giovannitti
“Anniversary I,” from The Collected Poems of Arturo Giovannitti
Edvige Giunta
“Litania for My Mother’s Hands”
John Glavin
From “MANAYUNK: Growing Up in Philadelphia During and After the War”
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
“Godfather II: Of Families and families,” from Off Center
From An Accidental Autobiography

Josephine Gattuso Hendin
“Who Will Marry You Now?”
Joanna Clapps Herman
“The Discourse of un’ Propria Paparone“
Evan Hunter
From The Paper Dragon
From The Blackboard Jungle
From “The Kiss”
Albert Innaurato
From Ulysses in Traction
Marisa Labozzetta
“After Victory”
Wally Lamb
“Food and Fatalism”
Garibaldi M. Lapolla
From The Grand Gennaro
Salvatore La Puma
“Wear It in Good Health,” from The Boys of Bensonhurst
“First Cousins,” from Teaching Angels to Fly
Maria Laurino
From “Words,” from Were You Always an Italian? Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America
Jay Leno, with Bill Zehme
From Leading with My Chin
Frank Lentricchia
From “Sitdown at the Heartland Hotel,” from Lucchesi and the Whale
Jerre Mangione
From Mount Allegro
Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale
From La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experiene
Mary Ann Mannino
“You Children Are Your Children, but Your Wife Is Just a Good Cigar”
Paul Mariani
“Duet,” from The Great Wheel
“Show & Tell,” from Salvage Operations
“The Old Men Are Dying,” from Salvage Operations
Carole Maso
“The Lion’s Head,” from The Art Lover
“Friend,” from The Art Lover
Christine Palamidessi Moore
From “The Virgin’s Nose” (or Picking Up a Piece of the Pietà), from The Virgin Knows
Ben Morreale
From The Loss of the Miraculous
George Panetta
From We Ride a White Donkey
From Viva Madison Avenue!
Paul Paolicelli
From Dances with Luigi: A Grandson’s Determined Quest to Comprehend Italy and the Italians
Joseph Papaleo
“The Shylock’s Wedding,” from Italian Stories
Jay Parini
“Grandmother in Heaven,” from Town Life
“1913,” from Anthracite Country
“The Miner’s Wake,” from Anthracite Country
“Ida Parini (1890-1976),” from House of Days
From The Apprentice Lover
Gianna Patriarca
“Someday I Will Read ‘Dover Beach,'” from Ciao, Baby
“Perfect Love,” from Daughters for Sale
Sadie Penzato
From “The Movies,” from Growing Up Sicilian and Female
Lucia Perillo
“Canticle from the Book of Bob”
“Lost Innocence of the Potato Givers,” from The Body Mutinies
“Long Time Too Long,” from The Oldest Map with the Name America: New and Selected Poems
Mario Puzo
From The Godfather
From The Fortunate Pilgrim
Rose Quiello
“Dedicated to an Old Friend Whose Kindness I Shall Never Forget”
Giose Rimanelli
From Benedetta in Guysterland: A Liquid Novel
Ray Romano
From Everything and a Kite
Agnes Rossi
From The Quick
Mary Jo Salter
“Video Blues,” from A Kiss in Space: Poems
Mary Saracino
From “Ravioli and Rage”
Jeanne Schinto
From Huddle Fever: Living in the Immigrant City
Chris Mellie Sherman
“How to Marry an Italian-American Man”
Felix Stefanile
“The Veteran,” from The Dance at St. Gabriel’s
Gay Talese
From Unto the Sons
Mari Tomasi
From Like Lesser Gods
Lewis Turco
“Failed Fathers,” from The Shifting Web
Anthony Valerio
“The Widows,” from Conversation with Johnny
“Song of the Castrato,” from Conversation with Johnny
L. D. Ventura and S. Shevitch
From Misfits and Remnants
Robert Viscusi
From Astoria
Octavia Waldo
From A Cup of the Sun
List of Contributors