Carnival

I am scared of winter because I only feel it sudden
like aloneness on the sidewalk, in via sacco e
vanzetti the street beckons me to stay
in pain

with eyes open without notice stuck,
the women take their children home sharp
and vanishing
it lasts all day long and the next and the next
with the trees and buildings unbelonging
past the edicola among the torn pieces

of paper on the asphalt that sees what I see
impressions of my first love, of my mother
sheltering from the rain of confetti
on the way home in the landscape designed
to hide her as she bends

from the old grief, i see her looking back
with huge eyes at the street in chaos
to remember most
what i wore at carnival then, what
my love picked for me to wear

By Erika Spadavecchia

Biography:

She is currently based in Rome, where she teaches, writes and lives with her fish. She recently obtained an MPhil in Criticism and Culture from the University of Cambridge.