I no longer Know Who I Am

by Domenico Sottile   Apr 18, 2016


During certain moments
I know
I have a mission to accomplish
Other times:
the impossible indifference

Now I approach the mirror
and I look at the reflection of my face
and I see again the rock
piled with the saltiness
once I used to know
at that solitary corner of Aspra

Now I feign myself as a Jesus
to be hung on the cross
Then this extreme thought
transforms into a grimace

Once in a while a woman
casually finds it
and as austere censurer
she shuns it with a blunt gesture

I look at myself
but I no longer know who I am

(Spanish version)

Ya no sé qien soy

Durante algunos momentos
yo sé
de tener una misión que cumplir
Otras veces:
la inmóvil indiferencia
Ahora me acerco al espejo
y miro el reflejo de mi cara
veo otra vez el peñasco
amontonado de la salsedumbre
que un día veía
desde aquel rincón solitario de Aspra

Ahora me finjo de un Jesús
para ser colgado sobre la cruz
Después este extremo pensamiento
se muda en una mueca

De vez en cuando una mujer
casualmente la halla
y como rígida condenadora
con un ademán brusco la esquiva

Me miro
pero ya no sé quien soy

Domenico Sottile

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Latest Comments

  • 7 years ago

    by Em

    Domenico, what a powerful write

    During certain moments
    I know
    I have a mission to accomplish
    Other times:
    the impossible indifference
    ^^
    This opening stanza is very powerful. As a human we sometimes know who we are and then other times we question who we truly are, if we are doing he right things etc etc.

    Now I approach the mirror
    and I look at the reflection of my face
    and I see again the rock
    piled with the saltiness
    once I used to know
    at that solitary corner of Aspra
    ^^
    The ever mirror image. The use of being a rock here mirrors being tough yet the saltiness mirrors an ever bitterness that you feel maybe because of guilt or the hardships you have had. Aspra is that meant to be aspera as in to the stars through difficult times of have I got that wrong?

    Now I feign myself as a Jesus
    to be hung on the cross
    Then this extreme thought
    transforms into a grimace
    ^^
    A very dark, vivid image here.

    Once in a while a woman
    casually finds it
    and as austere censurer
    she shuns it with a blunt gesture
    ^^
    This is my favourite stanza. Women can do that quite well lol

    I look at myself
    but I no longer know who I am
    ^^
    A very blunt but needed end to a fabulous piece.

    Em
    Ps I like how you have done the Spanish version too :)

    • 7 years ago

      by Domenico Sottile

      Dear Em:
      First of all thank you for having read my poem. Many and many thanks for your evaluation of it. You have discovered something that I subconsciously did and it took another poet like you to find it. It is true it takes one to know one: Aspra is the name of the beach section of the town I was born in, but what an inadvertent and yet perfect connection did I make with aspera as in to the stars through difficult times. Thank you for the profound finding

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