A Gesture of Salt: Three Social Poems

The three poems presented here meditate in verse on the concept of migration as a consequence of war, poverty, neo-colonialism, and exploitation of the environment. “In Absence”, with its simple and composed structure, is a silent cry of hope. The poet describes one night on a refugees boat in the Mediterranean: one of many journeys of hope tainted by the shadows of future hardships and the sorrow of the memories left behind. Under it all there is the sea, the big mother and never sated monster.  Today our cities are a melting pot of races and languages. Among the tangles of the urban landscape, the most fragile are often lost, forgotten. “Beyond the Gaze” offers a symbolic portrait of a neglected humanity, the migrants living too often at the borders of society with their crosses of wars and horrors on their shoulders (there is a hint to Jesus and mother Mary, for those who understand). Over this forgotten humanity, our distracted eyes barely notice anymore the TV news recounting other existential tragedies. From the first steps of mankind, people migrated, scattering around the world, mixing and differentiating themselves in different cultures and customs. “Transhumance” is a sort of laic prayer and a quiet reflection on migrations, crowds, loneliness, nature, and human landscape. The poems come from the Italian book Ossidiana, published by Volturnia Edizioni in 2018 (translations into English by the poet).