Claudio Pozzani [Italy]

 

I Dance
 
I dance the dance of brilliant ideas
hoping you’ll tell me something new
I dance the dance of losers and the lost
knowing my steps will be in vain
I dance the dance of the happy naïve
believing my sweat is of use to someone
I dance the dance of profiteers
and I’ll dance as long as you pay me
And I dance, dance, dance
to overcome my arrogance
I dance, dance, dance
the why has no importance
I dance the dance of the damned
because the spleen reaches up to my chest
I dance the dance of the conceited
because you are too if you think you’re on my level
I dance the dance of the unwanted
I’ve trained a lot before closed doors
I dance the dance of the intolerant
can you move over a little, please?
And I dance, dance, dance
as long as I remain standing
I dance, dance, dance
because it’s you who’s asking.
 

 
I Am
 
I am the apostle left out of the Last Supper
I am the Garibaldian who arrived too late at the rock of Quarto
I am the Messiah of a religion in which no one believes
 I am the excluded, the outsider, the damned who won’t surrender
I am the protagonist who dies on the first page
I am the stray one-eyed cat no old lady wants to pet
I am the rabid beast that bites the hand stretched out in pity
 I am the excluded, the outsider, the ageless damned one
I am the rogue wave stealing towels and smartphones
I am the misunderstanding making couples fight
I am the devil dodging Luther’s inkwell
I am the film that snaps before the final scene
 I am the excluded, the outsider, a nail in the brain
I am the pinball that’s swallowed one point shy of the record
I am the own goal at the last second
I am the kid making faces at his mother’s slaps
I am the fear of the grass about to be cut
 I am the excluded, the outsider, this page torn out.
 
 

To My Mother
 
I saw your face in that room
Me, dirty with blood and mucus
You, exhausted and curious.
I tried to tell you I wasn't sure
I wanted to stay outside of you
but the words I had in my head
in my mouth they mixed badly.
I had just learned that whole life
it would have been hypocrisy and paradox:
I just made you suffer
I made you bleed
but it was me who cried and you who smiled
I saw your face in that room
as they carried me away
There was too much confusion
to tell you how happy I was
to finally give a face
to the belly that had hosted me
And later with my colleagues
we discussed reincarnation,
the eternal return, Vico’s cycles
but I couldn’t wait to see you again
and to meet your man and your son
whose muffled and distant voices I could hear.
I saw your face in that room
and I would give everything I have to remember it.
 
 

Author’s Bionote:
 
*Claudio Pozzani was born in 1961 in Genoa (Italy). Poet, narrator and musician, his poems have been translated and published into more than 10 languages and he performs in the most important international literary and poetry festivals. In 1995 Pozzani created the Genoa International Poetry Festival "Parole spalancate", the largest and longest-running poetry event in Italy of which he is still the director. He has also organized several poetry events in Europe (Belgium, France, Finland, Germany) and Japan. In 2001 he founded the House of Poetry in Genoa.  Among the prizes, Premio Catullo, Premio Montale and the Homer Medal 2025, with the Pulitzer Prize Jorie Graham and the Nobel Prize Mario Vargas Llosa. In 2021 the director Fabio Giovinazzo made the film "L'Anima nel ventre" based on his poems.