First published in 2008. Inspired by an incident where a father in a videobar of low repute used himself as a human shield to save his son from a bullet. The poems are in two sections ("movements"), the 8 poem titles of the first section being re-used in the second in a different order and sometimes modified ("the blind soothsayer" is not longer blind, etc). In the second poem the father's in his kitchen - just a normal day. The killer walks to the videobar, passing a newsagents kiosk where newspapers are blown like dry leaves. The games feature death. He sees on another man his own face as it might be in 20 years time and shoots. In the final poem the father's looking back on his life, remembering playing football with his son, the shadow of a bicycle on the other side of the river.
The Italian's simple - it's a performance piece sometimes accompanied by music. The poems are in the poetrified voices of the titular protagonists - "I want a city that isn't only signs. I like the silence that separates words, not that which comes after sirens and shots" says Lisa (my translation)
No comments:
Post a Comment