We change our lives for its ocean
striped in blue
of incandescent veins
from ephemeral and alive
to fossils, colored sculptures
with permanent halos of flaming ash
to crown our heads
We began after centuries,
to adore the volcano
as if welcoming a young and kind god
We started to understand the last
rare, crazy offer that it asked for
to make ourselves immortal
Le nostre vite per il suo oceano striato d’azzurro
di vene incandescenti
Da effimeri e vivi
a fossili, sculture iridate,
con inamovibili aure di cenere
in fiamme a coronarci
la testa
Inziammo, dopo secoli,
ad adorare il vulcano,
come si ringrazia un dio giovane e generoso
Capimmo l’estrema
strana, folle offerta che ci chiese
per renderci inmortali
~Annelisa Addolorato
Annelisa Addolorato is an Italian writer and Hispanist. Having grown up living in both Italy and Spain, she writes both in Italian and Spanish. Her bilingual poetry books include: Mariposas y falenas – Farfalle e falene (Endymion, Madrid 2004) and La palabra ‘lasca’ o la reconstrucción de Pompeya – La parola ‘lasca’ o la ricostruzione di Pompei (Amargord, Madrid 2008). She has given poetry readings in Italy, Spain, Israel, and Venezuela. Her poetical works and her poetry videos are available in several anthologies both in print and online in Italian, Spanish, English, Arabic, and German. She teaches at the Universities of Milan and Pavia.
Her work is translated into English by Bill Wolak and Maria Bennett.
