December 1, 2024

December by Michele Sovente

Photo by New York Scugnizzo
Reprinted from Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy: Texts and Criticism (A Trilingual Anthology) edited by Luigi Bonaffini, Legas, 1997, p.275.

Dicembre

Cora caruta ammiezo
'i ffoglie 'i dicembre
quanno addisegna 'u cielo
vie storte senza na ràreca.
Chello ca nun se rice
s' 'u pporta nu camje
ca 'ncoppa 'i pprete s' appenne.
Acqua moppeta rinto
'i ssajttelle, cu ttanta streppuni
e rrote carute, 'a faccia
'i ll' acqua nisciuno 'a sape.
'I ffoglie a dicembre addiventano
serpienti e liuni

(Inedita)

December

A tail fallen among
December leaves
when the sky draws
crooked roads leading nowhere.
What isn't said
is taken away by a truck
scrambling up stony paths.
Water swirling
in the cesspits, with so many cores
and tires fallen in, no one
knows the face of the water.
The leaves in December become
snakes and lions.

(Translated by Luigi Bonaffini)