Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy (Italian Poetry in Translation Book 2)

The Pregnant Women

Fingernail upon fingernail
dispersed grimacing body
in the depths of the veins
by the hundreds their tales
in the depths of the cauldron
they tell all of their pains
people under the staircase
their hands and feet in chains
pregnant women
use long ropes to tie
their wretched children.
Fingernail after fingernail
in winter the trees scale
rusty roots and barks
a knot
an endless cotton blanket
on a heap of bones caving in
into a heap of bones
pregnant women
drag their asses and thighs on the ground
fingernail after fingernail
they glean breadcrumbs at night