The Grey Days are Lakes and Other Poems— Monica Guerra

Mar 17, 2024 | Poetry | 0 comments

TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY PATRICK WILLIAMSON

the grey days are lakes
when nothing but rain

a soggy air soaks
the roots the yield of trees
without a complaint

suddenly presses
where is the water

where the water
profanes the walls

II.

among these shadows the step
is stale bread under
the crust come true

the outrage of the swamp

it is always night before
time in time

in the neck of stones

(it is always night
the gestation of light)

III.

the constellations laugh
at our glances at the heavens
at San Lorenzo

that desire
one-off of the origin

the illusion of falling
disguised by light

here laws do not measure
infinity has no shores

courage is beyond
consolation of the visible

IV.

an uninhabited body
with no door a broken roof

the shadow distracted
by water ripples

even sun on the cathedrals
timeless now

Cassandra is a precise
point at every latitude

we sail by sight
among the trunks of pines

like sheer mangroves
deep in lakes

the discovery in the well
is a tomb chorus

the geomancy a chapter
filed

VI.

the idea of separation
(keeps us comfortable)

is a black lake
laps motionless feet

on the shore we deny concentric
circles the measure

the sinking of stone

double the trine
that contains

but the ego falls headlong
not burdened by detachment

in practice
the pure surface

Also, Read Selected Poems From Sovraliminale By Francesca Del Moro, Translated From The Italian By Patrick Williamson and published in The Antonym:

Selected Poems from Sovraliminale— Francesca Del Moro

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Monica Guerra

Monica Guerra was born in Faenza in 1972. Publications include Entro fuori le mura (Arcipelago Itaca, 2021); Nella moltitudine (Il Vicolo, 2020); Sulla Soglia – On the Threshold (Samuele Editore, 2017), English version in collaboration with Patrick Williamson; Spanish translation En el umbral (Uniediciones Sello Editorial, 2018); Sotto Vuoto (Il Vicolo, 2016). Anthologies: FuoriCampo in volumes 29-32 no. 1-2 of L’anello che non tiene – Journal of Modern Italian Literature (Wisconsin University, 2022); Spezzare il pane in the Fourth Repertoire of Contemporary Italian Poetry (Arcipelago Itaca, 2020); Expectations in the Journal of Italian Studies (Northeast Modern Language Association, 2019). Translation work: Il tuo nome ha l’ascolto del silenzio, Constantin Severin (QB, 2022); La bilancia del cielo, Nadia Scappini (Graphie – Il Vicolo, 2021); Diventa l’albero, George Mario Angel Quintero (Samuele Editore, 2020); Hundred Great Indian Poems edited by Abhay K. (Bloomsbury, India 2018). Notable awards: Arcipelago Itaca 2019, Luciana Notari 2017, Giovane Holden 2017. Her poems have been translated into English, Spanish and Russian and are in various contemporary poetry anthologies. She leads poetry and translation workshops, promotes cultural events in the area, including POETRY review in Faenza and the first two editions of the Tres Dotes Poetry Festival in Tredozio. President of the IndependentPOETRY Association (www.independentpoetry.org). More info: www.monicaguerra.it

Patrick Williamson

Patrick Williamson is an English poet and translator. Most recent poetry collections: Traversi (English-Italian, Samuele Editore, 2018), Beneficato (SE, 2015), Gifted (Corrupt Press, 2014), Nel Santuario (SE, 2013; Menzione speciale della Giuria in the XV Concorso Guido Gozzano, 2014). Editor and translator of The Parley Tree, Poets from French-speaking Africa and the Arab World (Arc Publications, 2012) and translator notably of Max Alhau (France), Tahar Bekri (Tunisia), Gilles Cyr (Quebec), as well as Italian poets Guido Cupani and Erri de Luca. Recent translations in Transference, Metamorphoses, The Tupelo Quarterly, and poems in The Black Bough, The Fortnightly Review notably. Longstanding collaborator with artists’ book publisher Transignum, member of the editorial committee of La Traductière, and founding member of transnational literary agency Linguafranca.