We happened to enter unfamiliar places Poem by Roberto Amato

We happened to enter unfamiliar places
for example my bathroom or your broom closet.
Then we observed our domestic animals at length
especially the owl (a bad omen
so as you say).

And the hours we spent checking each
and every star in our slice of sky . . .
to make sure each one was in its place and that nothing
had changed without my consent.

But in any case I always said yes.
I agreed to all the changes.
And in this I am very much like your husband who lets you move the furniture round
or who probably doesn't even notice.
But maybe you don't actually move the furniture round and you just like to imagine
a different house.
My thoughts however are quite clear:
the bed must go in the kitchen because it's the place where dreams happen.
The sofas in the bathroom:
life is extremely hard there and in any case it escapes us and must be caught by the hair
(and

later all we have to do is rest)

Translation: 2017, Matilda Colarossi