ALESSIO ZANELLI

The Plot

Listening to Sting or Cullum,

you look back on distant years.

Vile wrongs sweep over you,

you pretend to be the novelist,

never the main protagonist.

Stories land on paper entwined,

grace one page after another

in an elegant clean calligraphy.

It seems all is already there,

luminously plain and neat, only,

jotted in counterinvisible ink,

with lines appearing one by one

as if spurting out of nowhere.

The PC serves as carbon paper,

at best as a music streamer,

often it looks simply redundant.

Your tea always cools down,

the lamp light outlives the night.

No room for any distractions,

yet the kettle gets your attention.

The plot has awaited so long.

You can’t say who’s more eager,

the novelist or the protagonist,

but know you don’t need to know.

An answer is as good as any,

like sunrise and sunset compare.

The end is fixed ahead of you,

how to get there keeps swaying.

The hand thrusts the rollerball,

the sore eyes exonerate the hand.

Alessio Zanelli is an Italian poet who writes in English. His work has appeared in over 200 literary journals from 18 countries. His sixth collection, titled “The Invisible”, was published in 2024 by Greenwich Exchange (London). For more information, please visit http://www.alessiozanelli.it.