TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY BRENDA PORSTER

Image Used For Representation

TENDERNESS

I am waiting
for a sign from the sea
to discover where I’ll end up
Perhaps, a safe harbor
Or an island all my own
I want to hear
my feminine voice:
I am tired of acting like a man
and using tenderness to rob all the heart’s frontiers.
I don’t want a husband, or a lover either.
But yes, a soul
For all my life.

MY BODY TRANSLATES

My body translates
many languages,
comprehension
lags behind.
Communication between Martians.

SONG

One dreamless morning I
got up naked clothed only
in breeze.
I went to visit the garden I’d forgotten: there were flowers
that had survived my neglect.
I rescued impoverished roses by watering
with my repose
I saw reflected in the lake
the woman who was no longer a child.

Clouds came together hiding the stars.
Sad or happy, I was reborn.
While returning home
I heard harmonious chords,
I embraced my desire
by the fireplace and stitched up
my cuts
remembering my life’s love
When the mending was done, a
fierce wind raged:

that night I became a song.

TO SPEAK LOVE TO YOU

To speak love to you
I had to live a thousand lives because I’m made of earth
distant, trampled earth
nostalgic and banished
love to you
I had to scratch your hard
because I’m made of water
boundless ocean water
briny and distracted water
to speak love to you
I had to love many times because
I’m made of air
air warm and hard-working,
air vital and victorious.
to speak love to you
I had to be reborn without regret because
I’m made of fire
fire ambiguous, alluring
fire friendly and protective today
to speak love to you
I must do nothing more than
love you without impediment because
I’m made of you

THIS DESIRE FOR FREEDOM

This desire for freedom is almost incomprehensible.
My heart beats to the rhythm of a “samba enredo”,
and ends up collapsing from fatigue at a concert
of classical music.

Also, read Kitchensutra by Laila Wadia translated from the Italian by the poet and published in The Antonym:

Kitchensutra— Laila Wadia

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