April 21

after three days
binging on english
firenze with friends
assignments, poetry
then
pulling and paring grammar
that doesn’t exist in italiano
sculpting it into something
palatable
to plate up to students
my adolescent language
finds itself hungover
not wanting to be woken
its tongue limp
lazy
so today it’s caffe and cornetto
gianna nannini
and a volcanic landscape
of easy-learning italian grammar
of ci and ne and avrei dovuto
to coax la lingua back from the brink of sleep