Translated from the Italian by Anne Greeott 

Lockdown 2020

The chair
has only
three legs
but stays
standing
upon it
is everything
the table
and the kitchen
and the house
and then
us
with the fourth leg
between our teeth
we snarl
anytime
anyone
touches it.

*

When
we started
to eat
everything
that happened
to be there
and even
the body
of another
when it happened
to fall
there was
a sound
sort of
like water
louder
than our teeth
a massive moving
which backward
flung us.

*

Tomorrow
they will cut
the lights
but the downward
openings
in the room
have chasms
that gleam.

*

Behind the screen
the sun
is blinding
We all are glass
and break
by accident.

*

I call you
but behind
the screen
the grass
grows thick
I can’t see
a thing
maybe
from here
I can
throw
a handful
of earth.

*

Have you counted
the cities?
How long
to assign
every street
to a finger?
Under gloves
I have seen
assemblages
of buildings
wrist deep
not an inch
that can’t
collapse
from one instant
to the next

*

I built
this city
for you
on pavement
and a bigger
house
right next
to the window
But then
I lost
the way
I was sure
I could find
downtown
even
from the bathroom

*

I wanted to tell you
the city
decided
to count us
as ruins
we have edges
we have moss
down our legs
under intact
glass
our parts
have only
scrap
value.

*

How does
the body collapse
compared
to that statue
that stays
two meters
away
again
we are lost
in marble

*

Have you tried
to give it a name?
To say
that la crei
in opposizione?
I saw
its veins
swell up
it has a food
stamp
attached
to its tongue
that isn’t enough
though
to keep it still.

*

I keep on
moving
from city to city
inside the signals
you bring me
in envelopes sealed
and disinfected
in the latest package
of cookies
that keep on
crossing
over
the checkpoints.

*

I wiped
the whole
house
with disinfectant
I can’t tell
which veins
might be
most able
to withstand
under blows
the weight
of the rooms.

*

He had some
streets and
three piazzas
in his pocket
that’s why
the boy
stood still
they could
slip away
at any
moment
and the police
stood right around
the corner.