Dana Joy is with us again, and I believe he is well enough known to our audience to need no introduction, save for a word of advice that people go out and buy the latest volume of poems,

Meet Me at the Lighthouse, which we covered several months ago.

Today, we discuss a new volume of essays on poetry, yes, and on another art form, opera.

Welcome, Dana.

Good to be here, Mark.

First, you're not just an appreciator of opera.

You're a creator of it.

Give us the four libretti that you've written in case people wish to look them up.

Well, I am a creator of opera, although that's exactly the point of the book, because for some people,

the words of an opera are so insignificant as to be invisible or detrimental. I argue against this,

and I would offer, to follow your question, as my first piece of evidence for the court of opinion

that I've written a number of opera libretties. My first libretto was called Nass Ferratu,

which vampire fans will recognize as the title of the most famous silent vampire film

that was a German film.

It's actually being refilmed now for the third time in Hollywood.

And I did that with the composer Alva Henderson.

And I made what was a deeply Catholic opera.

As I looked at the movie, I realized it had the structure of a Belconto tragedy, of a woman trapped, a strong woman, trapped in a situation from which there was no escape.

And Nosfarra was written with Alva Henderson,

and it's been put on about half a dozen times.

It has been recorded.

My second opera was with the composer Paul Salerni,

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