The end of the world was this afternoon beaten by boredom,
a too short blanket that was not enough for an adult,
it was a sleepless past foot stamping tossing and turning
looking for the perfect position in my head
it was the hug thrown to emptiness
the end of the world was the untiring pursuit of amusement,
in that party with so many glasses, so many faces and so many voices
it was that inoculated lightheartedness,
it was that persistent need for peace,
necessarily passing through the trenches, with the rats that feed on phalanxes,
the end of the world was that desire for redemption
who made its way throwing the ball to the wall
finding it between the legs and then stumbling fell
it fell, it fell so hard
that there was no longer a chance to rise
that there were no longer even the floors.
The apocalypse has already passed and we have not paid attention to it,
I got up this morning,
I had breakfast, but I didn’t notice this subtle apocalypse
there are no angels or devils,
you are not resurrected or eaten
it’s a miscarriage during commercials,
it falls from the belly, you try to get rid of it with your feet,
the gaze returns to the screen,
the fetus remains attached
he leaves a long trail of uniform blood in the main streets
in the short break between one speech and another
“WE INFORM THE KIND AUDIENCE, THAT DESPITE THE ADVERSITY DUE TO THIS PARTICULAR TIME, WE ARE ALL STILL ALIVE”
Francesco Tardio (Italy, 2000) – translate from Italian by #slowwords
Cover: Emma Dante, Pupo di Zucchero, final scene (ph. Diana Marrone)