Journal of Italian Translation

Adria Bernardi/Raffaello Baldini
you set the table? pigs do have wings,
so where did Missiroli come from,
last night you just about bit my head off,
from Bellaria, Dolores told me,
but then everybody knows it, it’s only you that didn’t know,
and you just had to be right, when you dig in,
you are truly unpleasant,
I ran into Giorgio uptown,
no, Giorgio Magalotti, who with that daughter,
it seemed like, she did so very well, she was the best
in school, who knows how far she’ll go?
and now she’s a meter maid, nice, huh?
she studied, she studied,
to hand out parking tickets, and she looks awful
in that uniform, a girl, come on now,
get off it, a traffic officer,
then that cap with the visor, it’s all shoved up inside there,
the only nice feature she has is her hair,
what should we eat?
there’s still a few drops of broth, which with the stale bread,
I’ll make some zuppa di pane,
and two pieces of sausage,
who says zuppa di pane isn’t good? listen,
I complained to Nazario, oh this broth,
turned out especially good,
just look at those beautiful little tear drops floating inside,
one piece of sausage is evev too much for me,
and here I’ll give you a couple of pieces of crackling, but don’t eat
it all,
it doesn’t sit well, all of it, leave a little for tonight,
that’s enough, come on, then afterwards you won’t digest it,
I’m not going to get it for you anymore, I swear it, I’m not going to
buy it again,
because when you feel bad it’s unbearable,
do you want a pear? no, it’ll clean you out,
I’ll peel it for you, a slice,
just taste this, it’s butter,
why don’t you go out now?
you won’t miss out on anything, you don’t even seem yourself
anymore,
with that television set you’re like a clock,
it makes me jumpy, with all that switching, aren’t you tired of it?
when it’s that time, he turns it on,
there could be an earthquake, but he’d still turn it on,
I myself would throw it out the window,
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