Journal of Italian Translation - Brooklyn College - Academic Home ...

Poets of the Italian Diaspora - France
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In the street that leads down to the fish market
a little tree is hiding in a corner
so as not to show its limp-hanging leaves
the sea is calm
a little boat moves round
pushed by oars without much strength
Beneath this heat wave even the houses
sweat like people
and their moldy sidewalls crumble
Where are you going what are you looking at
with your eyes like a stinking little fish
who doesn’t know how to fill up his day?
Calabria looks like a sleeping whale.
(from Tinnirizzi)
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