In rows
If all of us were in rows
imagine
the moment evacuated from the origins
and pain in the eyes from unknown irises
all of us looking for a way
with worms in the our stomachs
and pieces of us detaching
imagine, what we would carry in our pockets
the toy of dreams for our children
three – four nuts for our hunger
or the key of a life of separations
open to the doubt of barren rooms
in a country with a an unseeing face
clouded by the heart
(the heart in the middle as the last refuge)
Which words, which streams of mud
when we ask someone if that sea
is equal to ours-and the sky also
Which painting of clouds
to remind us the steep ramps
over us, ditch flowers
in the black veil of the sun
A Tomorrow without Soil
It happens that the wood can feel when the leaf
abandons the knot
and so he weaves a tear where the sun used to leave a kiss,
a green promise of sap where
impenetrable clods grew
-it was sand and a trap, roots with a soilless tomorrow
elsewhere even –
Hope: the shape of breath
Widens slightly and returns to the thorny end of the thread
where the vineyard cannot mature grapes for other hands
A wine is poured that is like sleep sprinkled
into nests of poppies growing in the stubble
with the red of transhumance, streaming
onto the lap of an old mother.
Of what land
What I am living
is the journey
I turn around, the Earth still trembles
from having denied itself
The limit, the obstacle
will perhaps open a door
if that glass is not there
shattered by the roar
of someone who was only
a false brother.
(Originally Written in Italian, Translated by Rita Stanzione and Ute Margaret Saine)
About the Poet
Rita Stanzione was born and lives near Salerno, Italy. After completing her studies in pedagogy, she has been teaching science and branch of disability. Her poems are concerned with exploring inner worlds as well as external landscapes. Rita Stanzione is a haiku writer and accomplished translator of English language poetry into Italian. She published, in Italian language and editions, “Ink is a spotty ferment looking for a home”; “Space of liquid dreams”; “Re-versed verses”; “What a spotty summer”; “How not to feel cold” (as an ebook).. She has won numerous first and second prizes in poetry competitions throughout Italy.
About the Translator
Margaret Saine is a California poet who writes and translates in several languages. Her poems have been published in many countries and languages and she is involved in a variety of collaborative projects with diverse poets of the world. umsaine@gmail.com
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