Poems by Barbara Serdakowski

Sep 24, 2021 | Poetry

Without Verb

Only letters of maimed words
multicolor collage and salty drops of meanings
encrusted
under the sole of the foot
dented plastic bottles with pieces of label
in the pinewood
there down by the sea
oh right, the beach of the Americans
with dogs on a walk
always the same
always different
huts destroyed by carelessness
or by tides
now the reflection of the sun on the expanse of sea
no longer infinite
on indifferent stones warm at times and turned backs
short breaths
among light blue masks and fattened children.

 

The flute players
suspended scales
to weigh wind and pollen
dry leaves
turf clods
rusty bolts
to hold still antique jars
of seeds
of mothers and fathers
consumed by time
and receiving blessings
from absent
spiteful
children.

 

Torchlight processions
swarms of trees, signs, bridges
arms, memories and continents
outdated
recusing
oceans
polystyrene foam
to be closed in transparent boxes
with mollusc shells
false rocks
unstable lights
as hairdryers
suddenly immersed in the tub.

 

Torchlight processions
swarms of trees, signs, bridges
arms, memories and continents
outdated
recusing
oceans
polystyrene foam
to be closed in transparent boxes
with mollusc shells
false rocks
unstable lights
as hairdryers
suddenly immersed in the tub.

 

Trails of rampant insects
and pied pipers with their heads turned away
elsewhere
to not see
to not carry out
the megaphoned promises
between branches of communicating trees
all now hanging from laces
like shoes
on street lighting wires.

__

 

 

 

Barbara Serdakowski (Poland, 1964) lived in Morocco and then emigrated to Canada in 1974. She has lived in Florence since 1996. Published Poetry collections: Without verb, Lietocolle 2017. Multilingual poems: So naked, Ensemble, Rome, 2012, The verticality of existing linearly, Florence, 2010 and three novels: Katerina and her war, Robin Edizioni, Rome 2009, and Gli aranci di Tadeusz, Ensemble, Rome, 2018 (won the Canada Art Council writing scholarship) and the first edition of the narrative prize of  the Navarro 2019 international prize. Le quinte dei giorni, Ensemble Edizioni, Rome 2021.
She has won several literary prizes for both published and unpublished work. Due to her translingual and polyglot nature, her poetic work has often been the subject of interest and studies for essays and doctoral theses.

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