Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Valerio Magrelli

Labor Pains

Presence and absence.
Geological mutation.
Me yielding under his weight.
Subsidence
and my slow sinking.
But in truth I don\'t yield
under the weight, for I am atop him
and descend, from up down, Toboggan,
and his weight is a pull
from below, taking form by enticing me
under, sand from sand,
so that I might appear upside-down like
my own filiation
at the opposite end
of this genetic hourglass.

Il partoriente

Il partoriente

Presenza e assenza.
Mutazione geologica.
Io che cedo sotto il suo peso.
Subsidenza,
e il mio lento sprofondare.
Ma in verità non cedo
sotto un peso, poiché gli sono sopra,
scendo, sto sopra e scendo, Toboga,
e il suo peso è un tirare
dal basso, un prendere forma attirandomi
giù, sabbia da sabbia,
perch\'io riappaia capovolto come
filiale di me stessa
al capo opposto
di questa clessidra genetica.
Close

Labor Pains

Presence and absence.
Geological mutation.
Me yielding under his weight.
Subsidence
and my slow sinking.
But in truth I don\'t yield
under the weight, for I am atop him
and descend, from up down, Toboggan,
and his weight is a pull
from below, taking form by enticing me
under, sand from sand,
so that I might appear upside-down like
my own filiation
at the opposite end
of this genetic hourglass.

Labor Pains

Presence and absence.
Geological mutation.
Me yielding under his weight.
Subsidence
and my slow sinking.
But in truth I don\'t yield
under the weight, for I am atop him
and descend, from up down, Toboggan,
and his weight is a pull
from below, taking form by enticing me
under, sand from sand,
so that I might appear upside-down like
my own filiation
at the opposite end
of this genetic hourglass.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère