Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Stefano Dal Bianco

Levels

When I lie down on the carpet in the hall and look up, sometimes there is a fly
sometimes a gnat that in flying traces strangely geometric trajectories, suddenly and
continuously turning at a usually acute angle, and what is stranger is that everything
happens on the same virtual level: the one parallel to the ceiling and to the
pavement on which I lie.

I don’t know why it does that. Maybe because it finds its food this way, but why
always only in two dimensions, without using space?

It’s really enough for it,
and I too live on a level, the fourth floor,
I live in my slice of air,
I survive and when I want to
I look and breathe out of the window.

In fact, I’ve bought a carpet
and sometimes I have to lie down on it,
otherwise my horizon escapes me.

Il piano

Il piano

Quando mi stendo sul tappeto del salotto e guardo in alto, a volte c’è una mosca a
volte un moscerino che volando descrive traiettorie stranamente geometriche, di colpo
e di continuo svoltando con un angolo di solito acuto, e quello che è più strano è che tutto
si compie sullo stesso piano ideale: quello parallelo al soffitto e al pavimento dove sono io.

Non so perché lo faccia. Forse perché così trova il suo cibo, come le rondini, ma
perché sempre solo su due dimensioni, senza usare lo spazio?

Veramente gli basta,
e anch’io sono su un piano, il quarto,
vivo nella mia fetta d’aria,
sopravvivo e quando voglio
guardo e respiro dalla finestra.

Anzi, ho comprato un tappeto
e qualche volta mi ci devo stendere,
altrimenti mi sfugge il mio orizzonte.
Close

Levels

When I lie down on the carpet in the hall and look up, sometimes there is a fly
sometimes a gnat that in flying traces strangely geometric trajectories, suddenly and
continuously turning at a usually acute angle, and what is stranger is that everything
happens on the same virtual level: the one parallel to the ceiling and to the
pavement on which I lie.

I don’t know why it does that. Maybe because it finds its food this way, but why
always only in two dimensions, without using space?

It’s really enough for it,
and I too live on a level, the fourth floor,
I live in my slice of air,
I survive and when I want to
I look and breathe out of the window.

In fact, I’ve bought a carpet
and sometimes I have to lie down on it,
otherwise my horizon escapes me.

Levels

When I lie down on the carpet in the hall and look up, sometimes there is a fly
sometimes a gnat that in flying traces strangely geometric trajectories, suddenly and
continuously turning at a usually acute angle, and what is stranger is that everything
happens on the same virtual level: the one parallel to the ceiling and to the
pavement on which I lie.

I don’t know why it does that. Maybe because it finds its food this way, but why
always only in two dimensions, without using space?

It’s really enough for it,
and I too live on a level, the fourth floor,
I live in my slice of air,
I survive and when I want to
I look and breathe out of the window.

In fact, I’ve bought a carpet
and sometimes I have to lie down on it,
otherwise my horizon escapes me.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère