I don’t know
why I belong to you
at times
like an inherited house
at times
like a sharp pain
under the ribs
a cleavage
where once
wings resided
The child
laughing
in the photo
was myself
in other lives
so I am reborn
in your arms
that raise
my body
towards heaven
My father danced
that summer
and unhurried
he held my hands
in his
Now your hands
are paper
where the ink of veins
grows thin
and I read in your grasp
every gesture you make
nor words
has the breath
that hurries
forward
where I am not
Those cards
you hold in your hands
are the Saturdays
you pass far from us
I can’t say if it was worth the price
counting those seeds
without fruit
Your train parted
your train returned
just in the middle
delays
icy roofs on platforms
people elbowing
standing room only
toilets broken and occupied
your train parted
your train returned
all the days strung together
just in the tracks
in the bag a newspaper
glasses in their case
and that stolen time
down there between fog and vine rows
ditches, weirs, canals
your train parted
your train returned
One day
you wanted
to dress me yourself.
You put my shoes
on the wrong foot,
the left with the right,
and when I cried
you answered:
"Don’t make a fuss
walk"
Until the evening
I was tortured
in that mistake
until it became habit.
Unaware I was
unaware you were
that gesture was
a destiny
Father
I gift you
my tongue
my little tongue
that babbles
blow into it
from life
so that every word
said by you
I repeat
becomes my own
every day
more and more
Antonella Giacon was born in Padua. Having taken a degree in pedagogy, she lives in Perugia where she works as a teacher and teacher trainer of creative writing and poetry appreciation in primary and middle schools. She is one of the founding members of the poetry association "Il Merendacolo", and for thirteen years has taught creative writing course with groups of children, teenagers and adults. She has published various poems in the Veneto dialect in poetry magazines, among which are "Tratti" and "Diverse Lingue". In 1994 she published her first collection of poetry, Sottopressione (Fara ed.), and in 1996 the novel, Fatata fonte, which was short-listed for the new works section of the Premio Assisi. Her latest poetry collection, Pegno d'amore (ed.Corsare), was published in December 2001. In September 2005, together with the expert Elsabetta Forghieri, she published the book Piccoli alberi, piccole albere (Effatà ed.), which proposes an integrated approach to creative writing and dance-movement therapy for primary and secondary-school teachers. Recently her interests have turned to the potential interaction between writing, theatre, photography, music and expressive movement, and she has participated in public readings, performances and plays, which she has also directed.