Artwork by Anirudh Acharya
Courtyard of Miracles by Maurizio Cucchi
Translated from Italian by Devanshi Khetarpal
It’s not possible to hear it with your own ears.
Live it – I understand you – a hell, a shame,
an anxiety to escape (but let’s stay
in details most essential and least pleasing:
the plant in the sacristy, the notable
wrongdoings of the provost, the unctuousness of the coadjutors –
the hunchback and the deaf – and the nuns. The theft
of the charity boxes, the gun,
wrapped in newspaper, the shot down the barrel…)
Corte Dei Miracoli by Maurizio Cucchi
Non è credibile a sentirlo con le proprie orecchie.
Viverlo – ti capisco – un inferno, una vergogna,
un’ansia di scappare (ma restiamo
nei dettagli più essenziale e meno compiaciuti:
la pianta della sacrestia, le malefatte
arcinote del prevosto, l’untuosità dei coadiutori –
il gobbo e il sordo – e delle suore. Il furto
alle cassette, la pistola,
avvolta nel giornale, il colpo in canna…)
Devanshi Khetarpal was born and brought up in Bhopal, India, and currently lives in Manhattan, New York. She is a BA-MA Candidate in Comparative Literature at New York University, specializing in Italian Studies. Visit her website here