Barbafiore
Barbafiore, nom de plume for Domenico Boetti, was born in 1947 and lives in Mondovì, where he earned his living working as a barber in the family business. College educated and a friend of the more acclaimed Remigio Bertolino, with whom he contributed to a Renaissance of Piedmontese poetry, Barbafiore ran for years a small, artisanal publishing house. Many of Barbafiore’s earlier poems are collected in Viragalèt (Somersaults), published in 1997 by the prestigious Centro di Studi Piemontesi / Ca dë Studi Piemontèis.
O l’é duminica (From Viragalèt)
O l’é duminica
lasseme bèive
i son vidoa
al camposanto i son
già ‘nda e a la messa ‘dcò
ij fij son via
(fan fin-a tròp)
ma mi i son sola
e se i strambal un pò
grigni nen.
Quand i dindan
i vegh drite cole còse
che quand i son cèra
i vegh stòrte e peu…
‘ncheu o l’é duminica
lasseme bèive…
(È domenica «È domenica / lasciatemi bere / sono vedova / al cimitero sono / già andata e pure a messa / i figli son via / (fanno fin troppo) / ma io son sola / e se barcollo un po’ / non ridete. / Quando dondolo / vedo dritte quelle cose / che quando non bevo / vedo storte e poi… / oggi è domenica / lasciatemi bere…»)
It is Sunday
It is Sunday
let me drink
I’m a widow
I already went to the cemetery
and also to mass
my kids left
(they do more than enough)
but I’m alone
and if I wobble a bit
don’t laugh.
When I stagger
I see things straight
that when I’m sober
I see crooked and then…
today is Sunday
let me drink…