Friday, April 29, 2022

Friday, April 29, 2022: Gabriella Garafalo's poem "Untitled"

Out of a pesky arthrosis time is forced

To stand still, he is bedridden so can’t dash

To centuries and millennia, to wolf them down-

The soul is gently soothing him, with those platitudes

Eerily akin to a generous dollop of salt on infected wounds-

Soul, don’t waste your time with him, better for you

To look for a light blue sky, where light stands as a survivor

Along with lighter colors, maybe blue, maybe desire-

And she suddenly raids him, touches his lips, a biting cold

Breaths life to your winter, but, oh, those hands, them

And primary colours, such a bore-

Never complain, never explain, just remove them quickly,

No good for you to end up like her

For a cheap sunset, too much sorrow, and hot tears,

What’s the bloody point?

Listen, be wise, grab a reliable night, a pocket gift,

Don't you know the roots of your being are born blue-

Wasted, unstoppable, they show

The weird rhythm  of your days to a lover who always

Dodges a bit cagey-

However, that’s very much for him

To get in touch and say ‘hello’, he usually dodges

Dirty jobs, if the soul stares in awe at briars,

The sunset hides to ravage them-

Long story short, you too hide in the blue

The soul desires-all right, all right, no choice for you

If your places don’t live in you so they reject

A rendezvous with you-

Well, Father, to be honest even the moon rejects

To quench her thirst, maybe it’s the right time for sounds

To fade away, not that you like them, as the days from the mothers rape

Your winter, same here, same here.

The point is, one fine day the roots of your being

Would like to wither away leaving no trace-

Great, but your body your limbs are set on

Making it hard for them-

They might just love life, or they can’t wait to ground

Father who threw them at you in bulk.

Hers was the sort of kindness born out of fear,

The soul was a scared lady:

Particularly when in the morning the grudge of the light

Was quite a piece of work:

No depths of an abyss for shaken souls,

They might get excited, and anyway

The swamps weren’t that dangerous-

Those problems apart, her days made the clouds blue-dust,

And did justice to the blazing beings-

Maybe God in spite of everything? -

But blue was the dawn of words, when she was listening

To her myths, where even the waves are wild,

Stronger than the shocked rhythms

In a tangle of matching reds-

Meantime, for his part, the angel of secrecy,

So very sick and tired of his aging Eden,

Breaks in your house and shuts

All the blue hours in your days.

Awful, isn't it, mainly because you have

No moors at hand, no wild grass, no stray leaves-

Just make do with your wistful stones,

A betrayed green if the water stays still-

What a foolish makeshift, what a waste of limbs,

And you’d love to swap them

With meadows, rapids, streams-

Oh, don’t I know, you look for green

As the father of every tale, but your search is tangled up,

Even words meddle in and cut up, my soul, your grip.

© 2022 Gabriella Garafalo






Born in Italy some decades ago, Gabriella Garofalo fell in love with the English language at six, started writing poems (in Italian) at six and is the author of Lo sguardo di Orfeo; L’inverno di vetro; Di altre stelle polari; Blue Branches, and  A Blue Soul.

No comments:

Post a Comment