[Apri la porta a quello sconosciuto]

by Donata Berra

Apri la porta a quello sconosciuto,
ti reca in dono odore di mare
e un cesto di ricci, di granchi,
proprio a te, che ne hai paura,
non lo guardi negli occhi e nel suo caldo
ma chini il capo fidando nell’aiuto
degli orecchini della nonna, lunghe
gocce di perla che dai rosei
lobi pendono, sfiorandoti le gote.

[Open the door to that stranger]

by Donata Berra

You open the door to that stranger
who gifts you the smell of the sea
and a chest of urchins, of crabs,
just for you, and you fear it,
you don’t even look him in the eyes

or consider his warmth,
but bow your head trusting the help
of grandmother’s earrings, long
drops of pearls that from rose lobes

hang, grazing your cheeks.

translated from Italian by Charif Shanahan

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Donata Berra is the author of four poetry collections, most recently A Memoria di Mare / As the Sea Remembers (Casagrande 2010). Born and raised in Milan, Berra lives in Switzerland, where she teaches Italian language and literature at the University of Berne. Berra has also translated the work of many Swiss and German authors into Italian.

Charif Shanahan is an M.F.A. candidate in poetry at NYU and a graduate of Princeton University and Dartmouth College. His poems, translations, and critical essays have appeared in The Nassau Literary Review, Troubadour, The CLD: A Journal of Comparative Literature, and Explosion-Proof. Originally from the Bronx, he lives in Brooklyn.

Circumference

Poetry in Translation

[Apri la porta a quello sconosciuto]

[Open the door to that stranger]