Infinitesimal

Corrado Govoni
Translated from the Italian

The invisible insect, all green,is alive, incredibly, running happily,his angelic big toe shimmeringon white paper while I write,and I don’t touch him, for fear he’ll break,and I can’t see how he’s made, or if he has eyes:they’d be like needle points.(Could he be a gigantic magician in disguise?)And to think that he eatsto serve his weakness.Who knows what good things he eats!Who knows the world as he sees it!Perhaps small is beautiful,the way a pea is.InfinitesimoL’invisibile insetto tutto verdeche corre felice e ben vivo,nel luccichio delle sue trasparenti alucce d’angelo,sulla carta bianca mentre scrivo,io non lo tocco, per paura che si rompa,e non riesco a vedere come è fatto e se ha gli occhi:saranno come due punte d’ago(che sia qualche travestito giantesco mago?).E pensare che anche lui mangia,si servirà d’una sua lunga pompa.Chissà che cose buone mangerà!Chissà, il mondo, come lo vedrà!Forse piccolo e bellocome un grano di pisello.

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Corrado Govoni (1884-1965) was a major figure in the Italian literary movement of Crepuscularism, literally meaning “Twilight” and concerning itself with humble subjects, melancholy, and introspection.

Paula Bohince is the author of three poetry collections from Sarabande, most recently Swallows and Waves. She is the 2020 John Montague International Poetry Fellow at University College Cork.

Spring 2020, 105.1

Dallas, Texas

Southern Methodist University

Editor
Greg Brownderville

Deputy Editor & Web Editor
Robert Rea

Associate Editors
Joe Milazzo
A. Kendra Greene

Founded in 1915 and housed on the campus of Southern Methodist University, Southwest Review is the third-longest-running literary quarterly in the United States. SwR has featured many important writers, including D. H. Lawrence, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Robert Penn Warren, Allen Ginsberg, Annie Dillard, and Anne Carson.

In 2018 SwR redesigned its print edition and, for the first time, launched a website with exclusive text, art, photography, video, and audio

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