Rhina, as I understand it, is completely bilingual - which essentially means that she learned both languages as a child and therefore neither language is a second language.
My children are also bilingual; although they both went through Italian schools they seem happy to read and write in either language; in fact, my younger son has started writing poetry - and only in English. Not sure why.
Italian is a second language for me, as I learned it as an adult. And although I am surrounded by it daily and use it all the time, I know I can never hope to write decent prose in Italian, let alone poetry. Byron talked a lot about his intention to write his best works in Italian, but he never got round to it - and I don't think he could have done.
Conrad and Nabokov are definite exceptions - and there's no denying that part of the fascination of their English prose is a certain exoticism.
I agree about the poetry in Pale Fire; I like it a lot. But while I don't want to discourage anyone from trying, I still think there are very few examples of really great poetry written in a second language.
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