Translation Tuesday: Five Poems by Michela Zanarella

Translated by Leanne Hoppe

I Chain Myself to the Origins

 

I chain myself to the origins

of light,

I undo a sunset,

just as poetry touches me,

with my lips I create the fate

of a horizon that glorifies

cemeteries filled with bones.

I rest in the sudden vibration

of a cloud,

intersecting rivers of silence

at the whimsical azure of a crowd

of instants.

Embodied in the exile

of earth and water,

I bind myself to the wind, I yield to the flames.

To eyes permeated by the world

surrounding the sun,

I make myself eternal

like Daphne. I make myself

a forest of olive trees.

***

August’s Glances

 

You seek me

in the glances of August,

you throw your blue

aboard the edges of my lips.

You commit a pulse

of muscles and light to eternity,

you become electricity where the sweat

smells of resin and sea.

With your life you invade

my life

and with the retina

call me love.

***

Together Beyond

 

Dream an elsewhere,

a breathing in

of clouds and eternity

to nourish the spine,

of vapors still intact,

still ours.

Together,

beyond the outlines of the end,

we will move winged

across timelines,

as discovering ourselves naked

for the first time,

nervous because of love,

ready to unearth intimacy

of waters, of the universe.

The phalanxes will not vanish

in flames,

the greedy sweat of play

will not die,

we will consume the sky

dripping in love on the sidewalks

of destiny.

Drenched by sensuality

we too will exist

where the infinite is absent.

***

Sparks of Life

 

In these bones

I travel

and I carry with me

the little sparks of life.

I unearth heat,

take in breath,

I love.

I want

to stay in this skin,

I want it to still be

magic

in the future.

I want you to erupt

out of me

and I want to know

the taste of the sea.

***

Silence Matures

 

Silence matures

in a sea

that bears my glances

like earth that gently

bears human misery.

The flesh of my mind

takes refuge in the water.

In the limpid muscles

of the depth

I find the strength

of a prolific reason.

Life lingers

between a sacrifice

and the purity of my foam.

***

Michela Zanarella is the author of poetry, fiction, and plays. Born in Cittadella, Michela lives and works in Rome, where she carries out her work in collaboration with various journals on the web. She has published eight books of poetry, and she has received several national and international awards. Her poetry has been translated into Spanish, Romanian, French, and Arabic.

Leanne Hoppe recently completed her MFA at Boston University, and works as an editor. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in spoKe, Allegheny Review, Enormous Rooms, and Glass Mountain.

 

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