Dear Chris,
this is indeed a poem (written in 1993)
about the ongoing theme of
Physical Insight. It is an account of the internal perception of
exstrangeness and isolation which turnes to be a kind of church of the
being, made of silence and religiosity, like a sacred ground for the
biological essence of our lives.
The account of the speaking self could apper uncertain, but is in fact
stable and oriented towards the inward , drawing attention to the welcome
burden of having to explain these feelings. The translation from the
original in Italian is by Peter Dale.
Erminia Passannanti
-
Ent
darkness incipient
the obscurity before
advancing
in a churning maze of rooms
house of darkness
crevices in the walls
that give way. and I make out
in myself the wide-open iris,
the window
on to the darkness, the hand, the abdomen
above all
emptiness
yet I still believe
in the rotundity
of touch.
if it were possible
to remain seated
within one’s eyes
on the pews of the darkness
to listen to the bones’ homily
to the hushes prayer
of the eyelids
while far off
the tenebrae roll on
and a furrow winds to the ever-present
participle of darkness.
- ente
buio incipiente
l'oscuramento prima
di inoltrarsi
in un rimescolio di stanze.
una casa del buio.
lesioni alle pareti
che cedono. e scorgo
in me l'iride spalancata,
la finestra
sul buio. la mano, l'addome
sopra ogni cosa
vuoto.
ancora credo
nella rotondita'
del tatto.
se si potesse
rimanere seduti
nel proprio occhio
sugli scanni del buio
ad ascoltare l'omelia delle ossa,
la sommessa preghiera
delle palpebre
mentre lontano
rotolano le tenebre.
e un solco va all'incessante
participio del buio.
Copyrights: Erminia Passannanti (in Macchina, 2000, Manni Editore).
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