Lance Around Orlando

Paul Sorvino Recites a Poem for LanceAround

“Her love is youth, O speak my heart…”

Paul Sorvino is a renaissance man. In addition to being an excellent actor, he is also a sculptor, singer, chef and even a poet.

He was at the FFF to promote his newest film, Last I Heard. It was an OK film about a Mafia mobster who spent 20 years in prison and must now face life as an old man with a failing heart and no longer as “a king made of steel.” Paul was also present for a Q & A after the Enzian faithful were treated to a big screen showing of the Martin Scorsese classic film Goodfellas.

While the LanceAround team enjoyed both movies, we found them both to be average at best. Goodfellas, of course, is a well known Scorsese vehicle that showcases his spellbinding direction, an A list of actors, great humor and wonderful cinematography. But we agree with the handful of critics who site the lack of a sympathetic character and the seemingly mindless plot direction that keep this movie from getting our highest accolades. Last I Heard has similar issues, only the direction and script are even less stellar.

Paul Sorvino, on the other hand, gave a great performance–not only in the movies–but also as he spoke with the audience after each show.

With a booming voice, ability to don just about any accent, dramatic stories and even his stubborn instance that one puts “gravy” and not “sauce” on top of spaghetti (yes, he meant tomato “gravy”) Paul had the audience spellbound as he answered one question after the other. While listing his talents, he mentioned that he was a poet and a chef. He demonstrated the latter by going into great detail of the “proper” way to prepare the pasta “gravy,” insisting that one should never cook with extra virgin olive oil–that’s only for salad because it turns bitter when cooked. But hearing him list “poet” as one of his talents, LanceAround raised his had and asked, “I’m wondering if Chef Paul would be kind enough to recite for us a portion of your favorite poem you’ve ever written?”

Paul introduces the poem by referring to it as “a love poem.

“Upon seeing a beautiful woman at a party, whom I did not speak with, but thought about her for three weeks–an enchantingly beautiful woman. I was single at the time. I just thought about her and I wrote a poem about her. She was so impressive to me.”

He then found out where she worked and called her, asking if it would be ok for him to read her the poem. She said, “go ahead,” and here’s the poem Paul wrote and recited to this unknown woman:

My love is youth, O Speak my heart,
her face is light enshrined.
Her eyes are gems of rarest hue
whose secret flames do shine.
Her brow is like the sculptor’s wish
of Lambert’s swift design.
In marble depths sweet nature lives
O peace, my heart, resign.

The audience clapped and clapped.

The woman he recited the poem to was silent for about 30 seconds. Then she said, “Where are you.” They dated for six months.

Paul ended the Q & A by proving that even as old as he was, he was still a formidable tenor. He sang a verse of “O Sole Mio” which he claims was inspired by his aunt, a beautiful blonde child who lived in Naples when the song was first composed.

He sang and the audience again burst into thunderous applause.

This entry was posted on April 29, 2014 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Art Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.