Swans Commentary »
December 14, 2009
Perspectives: A Review of 2009
Levi 1943 In Front Of Our 2009
Research: Novella Nicchitta (Primo Levi),
Giulia Mazzola (Roberto Saviano), Michelle Abbott (Vincent Juli),
Erica Bruno (P. Barbera and J. Myers)
by Guido Monte
Multilingual Poetry
transfert© 2009 Nicola Spacca
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(Swans - December 14, 2009)
You that see your life so safe
In your warm house,
You that find, back home at night,
Hot meals and friendly faces:
Wonder if this is a man:
Who works in the mud
Who has no peace
Who struggles for a piece of bread
Who dies for a yes or a no.
(Fantômes immatériels... immigrants illégaux...
in the depths of indifference)
Wonder if this is a woman,
Without hair without a name
Without any force to remember
Empty eyes and cold her womb
As in winter a frog.
(A military guard saw her and shot. [...] Neda died in one moment.
She died with her opened eyes, while we still live with our closed and shameful eyes)
Consider that this has happened:
(It's just devastating, like the wrath of God)
I command you these words
To be impressed in your heart
Staying at home or roaming the road,
Lying down or getting up;
Repeat them to your children.
Or might your house crumble down,
Might illness strike you down,
Might your children turn their faces away from you.
(And the wave we have
crashing over our shores now
Will, too.)
The words of Primo Levi are from the masterpiece Se questo è un uomo ("If This is a Man," 1947), about his experience in the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
Novella Nicchitta, Giulia Mazzola, Michelle Abbott, and Erica Bruno are Monte's students, who help him on the search for words and verses from the only Book ever written. Many thanks also to Manuela Pezzati.
Picture: transfert, by Nicola Spacca (2009).
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About the Author
Guido Monte on Swans (with bio). Also, please check Guido's entry on Wikipedia.
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This Edition's Internal Links
Some Lines In Favour Of A Troupe Of Buffalo Flying Over The White House Singing Pastoral Songs - Graham Lea
The Winter Of Liberal Discontent - Louis Proyect
Angry Men - Beligerent Women - Charles Marowitz
The First Obama Year: Business as Usual, but with a Friendlier Face - Gilles d'Aymery
Obama: Were We All Naïve? - Femi Akomolafe
2009: It Was What It Was - Jan Baughman
Notes From The Edge - Jeffery Klaehn
2009 And "Mooving" Ahead - Steve Shay
French 2009 Vintage - Marie Rennard
2010, The Make-Or-Break Year - Martin Murie
Failure Of Progressive Thought - Michael Barker
Year End Closet Sweep Out - Peter Byrne
The Official Policies - Michael Doliner
A 2009 Year-End Rant - Raju Peddada
Bilan Matin/Morning Appraisal - Poem by Simone Alié-Daram
Letters to the Editor
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