For My Daughter
by Antonella Anedda
I love her fierceness when she fights me, shouting "Not fair!" Her eyes slitting
like shutters in cities by the sea.
Her life is rich with bonfires -- seen and unseen --
fires that burn through the turning years
bringing her to life again, and again, in a miracle of smoke.
This heat gives her a sense of forgiveness -- or so I imagine --
she kisses my back, capriciously, when I scold her.
Maybe she recalls the scalpel by which she was born.
Easy, the mark of its slash on my skin.
She rose from my belly as I slept. We're bound together
by peace, no shrieks of pain, and my modesty.
We're a canvas by Giovanni Bellini: a virgin and a sweet rabbit.
Antonella Anedda (Italian, born 1958) studied art history and teaches French at the University of of Siena-Arezzo. She has published several collections of poetry and essays and a book of translations of the poetry of Philippe Jaccottet. "For My Daughter" is included in The Farrar Straus and Giroux Book of Twentieth Century of Italian Poetry: An Anthology and was translated by Sarah Arvio.
by Antonella Anedda
I love her fierceness when she fights me, shouting "Not fair!" Her eyes slitting
like shutters in cities by the sea.
Her life is rich with bonfires -- seen and unseen --
fires that burn through the turning years
bringing her to life again, and again, in a miracle of smoke.
This heat gives her a sense of forgiveness -- or so I imagine --
she kisses my back, capriciously, when I scold her.
Maybe she recalls the scalpel by which she was born.
Easy, the mark of its slash on my skin.
She rose from my belly as I slept. We're bound together
by peace, no shrieks of pain, and my modesty.
We're a canvas by Giovanni Bellini: a virgin and a sweet rabbit.
Antonella Anedda (Italian, born 1958) studied art history and teaches French at the University of of Siena-Arezzo. She has published several collections of poetry and essays and a book of translations of the poetry of Philippe Jaccottet. "For My Daughter" is included in The Farrar Straus and Giroux Book of Twentieth Century of Italian Poetry: An Anthology and was translated by Sarah Arvio.