translated by Ann G. Kilgo
from THE SIEGE by Mariadonata Villa
Raffaelli Editore, 2012
from Within the City Walls
Good Friday
in the void I plant
tulips
and a few sea
anemones
an absurd spring
on this day, and for tomorrow
a hole of silence
I dreamed
of women in labour and a dead friend
I was awoken by
the dry throat of the screaming sleeper
now tell us, Mary
what did you see on the way
nothing else is waiting for us
we have no more seasons
only tulips
in red capital letters
Ite, vita est
when things return to things
and take back their primal names
water, bread, dear
gaze that never goes away
once again wetlands and swamps
from low embraces of the plane
find the sea
once again poplars and birches
along the wide water roads
become covered dance floors
among the accordions
again Peppino and Angela take
the hidden steps of forbidden love
half a century and an eternity long
before men
and before God
“Nothing stays” is part of the forthcoming collection “Dentro Fogland” (Into Fogland) and was originally written in English.
Nothing stays
not the kingfisher, not the butterfly
not even the flick of light
on the back of your hand
not the steps in the halflight
of sun coming down
which cast a long shadow of dance
through small feet, the other week
nothing stays, and yet
the world is still here
like an everlasting morning
even in the middle of the night
for dark creatures to give birth
to secrets
Mariadonata Villa lives and works as a teacher in Modena, Italy.
She published the collections L’assedio (Raffaelli, 2013) e Verso Fogland (Minerva, 2020). She’s a translator and poetry contributor to quarterlies and newspapers. Her interests also include visual arts – for her yearlong visual project, The year of the birch, please refer to @merydon on IG.
Her first book written in English, Fire/Flies is forthcoming this Fall from Bored Wolves press.
Photo Credit: Lupe de la Vallina
Ann Kilgo was born in 1974 in Athens, GA. She received her BA in French from the University of the South (Sewanee) and her MA in French Language and Literature from the University of Georgia. After living in France for several years she moved to Modena, Italy, where she lives with her husband and two children. She teaches English and French and works as a freelance translator.
