Adamah

I killed. I slaughtered.

I turned on the gas

tap. I ordered

the carpet bombing.

I packed explosives

into the suitcase abandoned

on a bench in the station.

I loaded live matter

by the ton onto a barge.

I signed the eye

for an eye. I bet

on the subprime crisis

bursting. I paid

the company to keep mum

about the cement mix.

I struck the match by

the canister in bone-dry woods.

I dodged the controls.

I falsified clinical tests.

I brought the knife down

on my wife and children.

I replayed the video

and I laughed. I slid

my hands under clothes.

I invented genocide.

I beat a child.

Scratch my back

and I’ll scratch yours.

I knocked over the pot of geraniums.

I pissed on the doormat.

I jumped the turnstiles.

I spat on the plate

you were eating from. I cut you off

at the junction.

I poisoned the cat’s food.

I parked straddling the line.

I poked my fingers

in my nose. I eyed you up

On the bus and followed you.

My collective

conscience is clean.

(Translated from Italian by Patrick Williamson)