The poets by Mattia Tarantino

Ignacio Oliden

Mattia Tarantino, photo by Antonio Verde - Rome University of Fine Arts


I poeti

Siamo allegri se spezziamo le stelle,
se scaviamo nel pane tornando
al frumento, perché ogni
verso è sporco di terra.
I poeti esistono nel vino,
nel sangue e nelle sillabe: hanno ossa
di uva, e i bambini le pestano.
Quando venni al mondo ordinai
ai tuoni di scheggiarsi al mio urlo;
ora imploro
che almeno un chicco si salvi.


The poets

We are happy if we break the stars,
if we dig into the bread reaching back the
wheat, for every
verse is dark with earth.
The poets exist in the wine,
in the blood and in the syllables: they have
grape bones, and children tread on them.
When I came into the world I made
the thunders splinter at my cry;
now I beg
that at least the seed is saved.

Mattia Tarantino (Naples, 2001) co-directs and is part of the editorial staff of Atelier. He collaborates with numerous magazines, in Italy and abroad, including Buenos Aires Poetry. His verses have been translated into more than ten languages. He has published L’età dell’uva (2021), Fiori estinti (2019), Tra l’angelo e la sillaba (2017); translated Verso Carcassonne (2022), by Juan Arabia and Poema della fine (2020), by Vasilisk Gnedov.

Ignacio Oliden

Ignacio Oliden (Buenos Aires, 1997) is a poet, translator and literary critic. He is Co-Editor in Chief of the literary magazine La Piccioletta Barca, and is a member of the editorial comittee of Buenos Aires Poetry (magazine and publishing house). He also writes poetry criticism in the Culture Supplement of the newspaper Perfil (Argentina). His work has appeared in print in newspapers, anthologies, and literary magazines in various countries, and his poetry has been translated into English, Italian and Greek. He has published Poetas del Renacimiento de Harlem (2023, in collaboration with Juan Arabia), and Mester de Juglaría (2024).

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