Padova (Italia), June 22nd, 2000
Ciao KC! I’m in the middle of the customary pre-summer working spree, but I managed to have a look at your series of new poems. I loved them, especially a very beautiful couple of bits in Lestat's first and last, so I read them yesterday evening to a group of poet friends in our weekly meeting. As most of them are more familiar with French and German than English, I also went ahead and translated them into Italian endecasyllable verses. For the sake of the rhythm, I went so far as to add a fourth stage to the bookstore and to switch Barnes&Noble with Feltrinelli, the biggest chain of bookstores in Italy (and a nice sounding name). For the same reasons, philosophy became archaeology... I needed one more syllable! I hope you don’t mind, especially as they loved them as much as I did. I am attaching the translations, if you care to have a look. Thank you, keep on writing, and have a happy summer!
Mazaher

1: In answer to your question

Mi chiedi se ti àmo. E tu, mi àmi?
Fan quattro mesi da che t’ho baciato.
Ricordi, quarto piano, Feltrinelli?
A metà tra New Age e archeologia.
Mi piaceva. Uno schiaffo, e sei scomparso.

5: The lion and the butterfly

Mon cher, ricordo il tuo volto l’altra notte,
mentre la lettera posavi accanto a me.
Intimidito dalle conseguenze
quasi tremavi. Temevo che svenissi.
Credevi non avrei visto, o badato?