Legends

Abstract

<✓1 cc QC O 1/1 3 o o X Q. Legends Andrea Zanzotto Ontheanniversary ofMay "Youarenotomnipotent" saysthepallidlittle lassie * Dustsofthelast, lost battles between blueandgreen wherein horizons loomovervegetation * Gentle voices, feral beesdreams ofother voyages everything returns ina minimum ofclosecuttings * Beesofice,per'aps, indelicate invisible swarms behind thecloudsUnconvinced thesprig acquiesces * Every desire andwishmisfallen, heartsease under theeyesandtheeyes nowthat Maynegates * Theinfant-hail, icybut resurgent May, "I amnotomnipotent" beating againbeating upontheroofs * "NeveragainMay"they say ingreys andblues with secret insects secret hails * Neverwanting snowofmiddle May whodo youwanttosave? Whodo youinsist onsaving? * How,why, most oppressive Mayofthecentury - onehundred years ofdarkness ina month? * Acidspray ofsunset Acidroots onthehorizon Acid:suddenly invented languages 1985 Translation from the Italian ByAnthony Barnett Andrea Zanzotto (b.1921, Pieve diSoligo) isItaly's foremost modernist poet and has also written exemplary prose pieces and critical essays; Montale considered him the most important Italian poet of the twentieth century. Some of his work iswritten indialect, and hehas collaborated with the filmmaker Fellini, for instance on Casanova. Zanzotto's volumes of poetry include Vocativo (1 957), LaBelta (1 968), Pasque (1 973), IIGalateo inBosco (1978), Fosfeni (1983), and Meteo (1996). Several selections from his work have appeared in book form inEnglish, most recently inThe Selected Poetry and Prose of Andrea Zanzotto (2006). "Legends" isfrom Meteo. Anthony Barnett (www.abar.net) lives inEngland. His works include The Resting Bell (1987, poetry) and Miscanthus : Selected andNew Poems (2005). Hehaspublished numerous translations, most recently, with Toraiwa Naoko, Akutagawa Ryunosuke's AFool's Life (2007), andLouisRene DesForets's Poems of Samuel Wood (201 1).His critical essay about translating Zanzotto, "Ona Translation," is included in Antonyms &Others (201 2);his Poems by Andrea Zanzotto appeared in1997. 38 iWorld Literature Today ...