Self translated from the Albanian by Arben Dedja, edited by Pina Piccolo

About love

The belly ache
You get after
A French kiss
Is caused by H. pylori
Medicine tells us.

The Honeymoon Cystitis
Is treated with Nitrofurantoin 50mg
Orally half an hour
Before coitus.

Even five times a day?

—

The Leader’s Speech

In the back rows they were eating watermelon.

The atmosphere was that
Of the historical moment:
The hall in semidarkness
Ready to be lit
By a sea of applause.

In the front row
The weariness
Of hanging buttocks
Was palpable among the veterans.

When in the middle
Of a long sentence He paused
And took a deep breath
Only the tick-tock
Of the nail cutters (a Chinese invention)
Could be heard.

—

Collins

They would climb down and I’d say goodbye
From the porthole.
The Earth was riveted in front of the TV.

Under my nose the Moon was rising
But I never took that fateful step.

Impossibility was corroding me
Like that strange sand the feet of the others.
As I made way towards the control desk.

Never have I liked the scarecrows in the fields
Always have loved the puppeteers behind the curtain.

My name was erased
From newscasts
By those who see only what is visible.
The Moon too
Has another side.

And what do the experts say?
Why do they stay silent?
They know the truth:

In the beginning was Authority!

Note – Michael Collins is the American astronaut  who flew the Apollo 11 around the Moon and the only one of the crews who did not land on the Moon surface