MY BIRTH
Joska
I, Joska, Michele Fontana,
born on the 11th day
the 11th month
on the 1
1th hour. Dead, where,
how,
where and why? Only one homeland,
only one is my god:
the grave.
A Sicilian wanderer, Joàka composed several lyric poems in the dialect of the Eftavaga~a Sinti (“of the seven caravans”, a group which was diffuse for the most part in France) and Estrekà~a, following in the footsteps of his friend Spatzo.
Translated by Katie Hepworth