22

A frutta siamo giunti — dici — e dopo?
Appare terminato il gran menù.
Ma sappi ch’io ti son di verbo cuoco
e non intendo smetterla, se tu
sazio ti senti d’indigesto cranio
azzanna e fai boccon del cuore, morso,
giacché ce l’ho più duro del titanio
quel muscolo che plasma mette in corso.
Rigettami e rivomita me pasto
sì come fossi afflitto in bulimia:
comincia un nuovo pranzo ancor più vasto
ed abbi più pietà, pietanza mia.
          Ti prego riprendiamo quel bagordo
          di cui son ghiotto e molto, avido, ingordo.

                         ★ ★ ★

We’ve reached the fruit course, you say—
and now? The main menu’s over, it seems.
But bear in mind that I’m your verbal chef,
and I’m not disposed to leave off. If you
feel stuffed with my brain, hard to digest,
chomp on my heart as a mouthful, a bite—
all the more, since that plasma-pumping
muscle of mine is stiffer than titanium.
Regurgitate me like a meal, throw up
as if bulimia had overmastered you.
Start a new and even bigger lunch,
and dish out more mercy, my dish.
          I beg you, let’s begin our frolics again.
          For them I hunger, an unsated glutton.

Marco Simonelli & Hoyt Rogers | Will, Sonnet 23
Contents | Mudlark No. 73 (2022)