TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY PATRICK WILLIAMSON

1
flesh in flesh body in body
dissolution of continuity
between caress and bite
truly they take his body
and all eat of it
truly they take his blood
and all drink of it
everything already in the divine plans
but the excellent animal
knows no restrictions
the excellent animal aspires
to its own creation
backtracks, in stages
enlarges in the bloodstain
unto the ages of ages.
Detonations seem ever quieter
no big deal, no big deal
infinite slow sprains
the spirit has always been virtual
until the scenario
is magnificently altered
now all is accomplished
but no one is immortal

reductio
omnium
ad unum
Echad
supraliminal

2
the edge of the mouth using a finger we cleanse
from the dismembered child’s lump of flesh
a particle nourishing his highest vanity
fresh blood on the spreading patch
we hang holy cards on the burning wall
we sing over the scream of the mother’s home

17
Isabella has a fragile face
and a red coat
this morning.
She’s walking before dawn
on the roadside
with the other commuters.
The bus has broken down
they’ll wait for another one
they’ll be late
they’re already tired.
Shoulder to shoulder
each with heads bowed
they lock arms
in the cold.
If only they’d look up
for a moment
and recognize each other
their silent blasphemies
would become revolt.

18
– blue green orange green purple purple
give seven strikes with the throat swallow
purple orange blue green purple green
the zipper finally closes –
You’ve lost weight and in your red dress
you sit like a queen on a throne.
Your hands clasped, your face softened
eyes circled pink and mild.
Young and dazzling again, it’s you
they want you they call in chorus
your son comes and hugs you
he’s wearing a suit and tie
it’s everyone’s dream that never stops
but only you were good
to dream it all the way.
You settle your hips on the chair
your forearms on the arms
you’ll have all the love in the world.
The fridge in there rattles
your face closes to the crash
you clench your chapped lips
you sit back, your teeth chatter
but just a little you’re
beautiful.

27
I’m sorry
he says and gets wasted.
The horror is here and now
two pizzas, a coke
Kentucky Fried Chicken
the drugs, the stares
of others.
The horror
repeated
incessantly
but the horror
always
elsewhere.

30
Eyes fell within a hundred years
eroded by drugs, flickering
as they watched a Russian film
about tyrants and the tsunami
of their chilling crowds.

32
Behind his blue eyes
the stars die.
That’s not the point:
whether to choose good.
The Earth’s utter destruction
is the ultimate beauty.

REFERENCES

2- Mother!, film directed by Darren Aronofsky
17- Sole, cuore, amore, film directed by Daniele Vicari
18- Requiem for a Dream, film directed by Darren Aronofsky
27- The Whale, film directed by Darren Aronofsky
30- Fairytale, film directed by Aleksandr Sokurov
32- Oppenheimer, film directed by Christopher Nolan

All poems originally published in Italian in Sovraliminale, edizioni Progetto Cultura, 2023

Also, read “Between Longings for what was and the Epiphanies of the Beyond: A Review of Hélène Cardona’s Life in Suspension” by Hiranya Mukherjee published in The Antonym:

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