Poem

Giampiero Neri

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Original language

It was difficult to recover the threads

It was difficult to recover the threads 
of that open-air theater 
with its scattered statues. 
The name of a shop had remained 
a street corner seemed familiar 
and the fish swimming below the banks
 in the lake’s dead waters.

© Translation: 2011, Ron Banerjee
Publisher: First published on PIW, , 2011

It was difficult to recover the threads

’t Was moeilijk van dat openluchttheater
en zijn verdwenen gestalten
de draden weer te vinden.
Er waren nog de namen van een paar winkels,
een paar herkenbare straathoeken
en de vissen die langs de oever zwommen
in het dode water van het meer.

© Vertaling: 2011, Ike Cialona
Publisher: 2011, First published on PIW,

Di quel teatro all’aperto
delle sue figure disperse
era difficile ritrovare i fili.
Rimaneva il nome di qualche negozio
qualche angolo di strada somigliante
e i pesci a nuotare sotto riva
nelle acque morte del lago.

© 2004, Giampiero Neri
From: Armi e mestieri
Publisher: Mondadori, Milan

Giampiero Neri

Giampiero Neri

Giampiero Neri (the pseudonym of Giampietro Pontiggia) was born in Erba, in the province of Como, in 1927. He lives in Milan. His life has been marked by tragic events – the death of his father, who was killed when Giampiero was sixteen, the suicide of a sister in her twenties – which appear, however, only indirectly in his poetry. A bank employee, he has cultivated entomological and literary i...

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Where would Don Rodrigo’s mansion be located

That pastry and coffee house in Como

NATURE

A NOTE FROM 1926

TWO TIMES

FRESHWATER FISH

MIMESIS

BOTANICAL VARIETY

BOREALIS

Of those uncertain shadows

Close

It was difficult to recover the threads

It was difficult to recover the threads 
of that open-air theater 
with its scattered statues. 
The name of a shop had remained 
a street corner seemed familiar 
and the fish swimming below the banks
 in the lake’s dead waters.

© 2011, Ron Banerjee
From: Armi e mestieri
Publisher: 2011, First published on PIW, Milan

It was difficult to recover the threads

It was difficult to recover the threads 
of that open-air theater 
with its scattered statues. 
The name of a shop had remained 
a street corner seemed familiar 
and the fish swimming below the banks
 in the lake’s dead waters.

© 2011, Ron Banerjee
Publisher: 2011, First published on PIW,

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