My Mother (July 2020)
My mother is sitting next to me at the doctor’s
My mother is here and she's not really here.
She's missing some pieces.
One day she lost her teeth, then her hearing.
She lost a breast, a lung, her hair.
My mother lost the trains the buttons and her mother
and the childhood.
One day my mother lost a son
(other she let them go).
My mother holds her name in her pocket
it once was worth banners.
A country has my mother and a house
overflowing with butterflies.
My mother has three birds; she keeps them tied to her side
with cords of various colors.
When the wind rises, they hit her flank
in attempt of a flight.
My mom has rhinestone bars and smoke volutes
among her asbestos hair. My mom has a crease on her face
and a padlock. My mother has a pain and a rosary.
A branch planted on her neck and an empty grave
between her father and her mother.
My mother has three daughters
and better verses than mine.
My mother is in the mirror, and she looks me in the eyes.
Mia Madre
Mia madre è seduta accanto a me dal dottore
Mia madre c’è e non c’è per davvero.
Le mancano pezzi.
Un giorno ha perso i denti, poi l’udito.
Ha perso un seno, un polmone, i capelli.
Mia madre ha perso i treni i bottoni e sua madre
e l’infanzia.
Un giorno mia madre ha perso un figlio
(altri li ha lasciati andare).
Mia madre ha in tasca il suo nome
che un tempo contava vessilli.
ha un paese mia madre e una casa
che trabocca farfalle.
Mia madre ha tre uccelli che tiene legati alla vita
con cordoni di vario colore.
Se il vento si alza le sbattono addosso
in azzardo di volo.
Mia madre ha barrette di strass e volute di fumo
tra i capelli d’amianto. Mia madre ha una piega sul viso
e un lucchetto. Mia madre ha un dolore e un rosario.
Un ramo piantato sul collo e un loculo vuoto
tra suo padre e sua madre.
Mia madre ha tre figlie
e versi più belli dei miei.
Mia madre è allo specchio e mi guarda negli occhi.
My Daughter Doesn't Like Stripes
Mom, you dress like a pirate
surprised and a bit chanting
used to tell me as a child
I, on the contrary, wear them everywhere – on sweaters
on scarves on trousers
(vertically, though, to sublimate height)
wide stripes, narrow stripes, intermittent
parallel and perpendicular
in cacophony of sound and color
but also in black and white
when necessary - stripes
what a chaos – what a delight
My daughter, on the other hand, loves straight lines
defined by two points
that don't change reason
with the folding of a river – she loves asymptotes
and ellipses
and she loves the mice of her laboratory
and bacteria in anaerobic chambers
my daughter loves precise numbers
coherent – cosmic spirals
that both of us surprise and rise
they rise, up they go
in geometry of stars
And maybe there, in the dust of the cosmos
maybe there one day
that’s where we’ll meet.
A mia figlia non piacciono le righe
mamma ti vesti da pirata
sorpresa e un po’ cantilenante
mi diceva da bambina
Io invece le metto dappertutto – sui maglioni
sui foulard sui pantaloni
(in verticale, però, per sublimare altezza)
righe larghe righe strette intermittenti
parallele e perpendicolari
in cacofonia di suoni e di colori
ma anche in bianco e nero
all’occorrenza - righe
il caos – ma che delizia
Mia figlia invece ama le linee rette
definite da due punti
che non cambiano ragione
con i fiumi – ama gli asintoti le ellissi
e ama i topi del suo laboratorio
e i batteri nelle camere anaerobiche
mia figlia ama i numeri precisi
coerenti – spirali cosmiche
che entrambe ci sorprendono e salgono
salgono
in geometria di stelle
E forse lì nella polvere del cosmo
forse un giorno li
ci troveremo
It Happens Just By Chance
as it always happens
a foot that slips and the hip that crumbles
- it’s just the female destiny - and then
my grandmother's body clinging to life
barely an animal and a thread of functions
- did you poop today? -
defined by absence the thought disappears
it disappears the word, and disappears
the name
the idea remains of her
her legacy and witnesses: an ancient notebook
of prayers, a black and white picture with child
hundreds of lace
and her curved shoulders
it remains of her the flesh - last leaf
clinging to the branch – it remains
the primary urgency of hunger
the primal life
taking the form of her knotted hands
the surplus surrenders to the water
awaiting for the lightning
the supreme thunderbolt of the cosmic
quantum marking the way home
metamorphosis of petals
in the wind
Accade così per caso
come accade sempre
un piede in fallo l’anca che si sbriciola
destino femminile e poi
il corpo di mia nonna aggrappato alla vita
appena un animale e un filo di funzioni
- hai fatto la cacca oggi? -
definito dall’assenza scompare il pensiero
scompare la parola scompare pure
il nome
resta di lei l’idea
lascito e testimone un quaderno antico
di preghiere una foto luminosa con bambino
pesca e a centinaia i merletti
e le sue spalle curve
resta di lei la carne – ultima foglia
al ramo – resta primaria
l’urgenza della fame la vita primordiale
che prende la forma delle mani
l’eccedenza si abbandona all’acqua
in attesa di folgore suprema del quanto
cosmico che è ritorno a casa
metamorfosi di petali
nel vento
***The poems of this manuscript are the most intimate of my collection: dedicated to crucial people (and moments) of my life. From the motivation of the second prize “Poesia da tutti i Cieli”, Messina 2021 for “My Mother”: “The balance of the lyric ego takes place between the courageous, firm pronouncement of the truth and its translation into the symbolism of figurations that, apparently abstract, center it in substance and are parallel to the clarity of its scansion, generated by a manifest language, without appeal. […]”
LUCILLA TRAPAZZO
LUCILLA TRAPAZZO: (Switzerland/Italy) Award-winning poet, translator, artist and performer. After years spent abroad, studying and working (DDR, Brussels, Washington DC and New York City), she now lives in Zurich, Switzerland. Poetry editor, translator and collaborator of several international magazines, co-editor of various international anthologies, Lucilla Trapazzo has co-organized and moderated poetry events, international festivals, and art exhibitions for international associations. Her poems, translated in 18 languages, won numerous prestigious awards (among which laureate poet of Naji Naaman Literary Awards, Lebanon 2021 and of Korca Poetry Nights, Albania 2023), and have been published on important international magazines and anthologies. She is regular guest of international poetry festivals, among which Struga Poetry Evening 2021 (N. Macedonia); Princeton Festival, 2021,2024 (USA); Babylon Festival of Arts 2022, 2024 (Iraq); Kistrech Poetry Festival, 2023 (Kenya). Convinced supporter of human rights and the planet, her social and feminine point of view is reflected in many of her writings. Seven her books of poems.
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