Mazzi di rosette

by Francesca Pellegrino

Qualche volta sui vetri

si affranca un po’ di sudore

di noi che andiamo

e facciamo i figli e li portiamo

a seguito, carovane nel deserto

a sabbia alta

attaccati con la bocca al respiro.

E tremano di freddo, loro

colando dal naso la verità dell’inverno

come ovulazioni di fiche pronte

e una pillola sul comodino

per non dimenticare che

non c’è più tempo.

Che non è questo il tempo.

C’è da comprare il pane

prima che chiuda il cielo.

Rosette bouquets

by Francesca Pellegrino

Sometimes a bit of sweat

off us affixes itself onto glass panes

as we’re going hither and thither

and we make babies and carry them

behind us, caravans in the desert

of high dunes

attached by mouth to breath.

And they shiver from the cold, they do

the truth of winter running from their noses

like ovulations of ripe cunts

and a pill on the bedstand

so as to not forget that

time has run out.

That this is not the time.

There’s bread to get

before the sky shuts.

translated from Italian by Adria Bernardi

Francesca Pellegrino was born in Taranto, where she currently lives. Her publications include Chernobylove—Il giorno dopo il vento (Kimerik 2010), Dimentico sempre di dare l’acqua ai sogni (Kimerik 2009), and Niente di personale (Samizdat 2009). A chapbook, L’Enunciato (Libraria Padovana 2008), was included in the series Donne in poesia, edited by Elisa Davoglio. She is a coordinator of the literary magazine LibrAria.

Adria Bernardi’s translations include Small Talk, a translation of poetry in the romagnole dialect by Raffaello Baldini; Siren’s Song, prose and poetry of Rinaldo Caddeo; Adventures in Africa, a work of nonfiction by Gianni Celati; and Abandoned Places, the poetry of Tonino Guerra. A collection of personal essays, Dead Meander, was recently published by Kore Press.