2 poems by Pamela Proietti Translated by Stephen Eric Berry and Donna Mancusi-Ungaro Hart

---

STANZA 37

Accende il fuoco:

la legna dell’estate

scalda la stanza.

Tra le fiamme un ricordo

scintilla sulla mano.

ROOM 37

The fire blazes:

summer wood

heats up the room.

Among the flames a memory

is the spark on my hand.

---

IL MESE DEL PRIMO CIELO

Bianca di neve,

la memoria del pino

s’apre alla luce.

Il becco di un picchio

dà voce all’inverno.

MONTH OF THE FIRST SKY

White of snow,

memory of the pine tree

opens to the light.

The woodpecker’s tap-tap-tap

gives voice to winter.

---

Pamela Proietti’s first book of poetry, il nome bianco, was published by Gattomerlino Edizioni (Rome, Italy) in 2021. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Michigan Quarterly Review, Waxing and Waning, Asymptote, Columbia Journal, Belas Infíeis (Brazil), Interim, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, in La nuova carne poetica, Vol.1 – della femmina intelligenza (PesaNerviPress, 2008), and in Il mare è poesia (Edizioni Progetto Cultura, 2015). She has served as an editorial director at Metropolis Zero magazine where she oversaw the “Letters to the Director” section and wrote on the “Mind the Gap” page. Ms. Proietti has collaborated with NiedernGasse magazine and the cultural association “House of Ink.” She lives in Rome, Italy.

Donna Mancusi-Ungaro Hart is a graduate of Vassar College and received her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. Her field of interest is Italian Studies, specifically Dante and Italian cinema. She was awarded the “Dante Prize” of the Dante Society of America and subsequently published Dante and the Empire (American University Studies, 1987). She taught Italian for several years at Rutgers University and since 2005, has been a tutor and translator of Italian through the University of Michigan. Her translations have recently appeared or are forthcoming in: Michigan Quarterly Review, Waxing and Waning, Columbia Journal, Belas Infíéis (Brazil), Interim, and Asymptote. In 2023, she was one of the winners of the Premio New York di Poesia “Italiani per il futuro” sponsored by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Stephen Eric Berry is a writer, filmmaker, composer, and a recipient of a Jule and Avery Hopwood Award at the University of Michigan. His poems and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in: Michigan Quarterly Review, Midwest Review, Waxing and Waning, Puerto del Sol, Tampa Review, Columbia Journal, Asymptote, The Mailer Review, Interim, and the Brazilian publications Belas Infíéis and Voz da Literatura. In 2017, he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to be a visiting scholar at Amherst College. In 2023, he released “The Children’s Holiday,” a film exploring the artwork of Detroit-area artist John Elkerr. To view the film, go to: https://vimeo.com/807495629. He lives in Chelsea, Michigan.

---

Translator’s Note

Il mese del primo cielo :: Month of the First Sky

In Japan, January is referred to by various names including “the month of the first sky.”

---

10 June 2024