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THE FROG WIFE

After Millhauser

Livia Franchini

Like peeling back a poinsettia blossom

or a concept of iceberg proportions

Language can be thick with flesh both

that; & very deep & very cold

A sugary rope, same taste

in the teeth as pink mouse

Somebody’s babies

They cross the street and you let them walk on

Once they make it to the other side

you spin around looking for their parents

The children disappear from view 

And you’ve lost your train of thought

Chewing on the long beard of language

its granular bristle full of Os

It is a strange city you live in

buildings as grey as Dumbo

& before you know 

You are a burning hot dot

And you have forgotten to take your son home

Livia Franchini is a writer & translator from Tuscany, Italy. She is the author of a novel, Shelf Life (Doubleday, 2019) and a poetry pamphlet, Our Available Magic (Makina Books, 2019). Her latest English-language translation is The Sky is Falling by Lorenza Mazzetti (Another Gaze Publications, 2023) and a second novel is slated for publication by Doubleday in 2024. Livia is Lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths where she also coordinates The Goldsmiths Prize for innovative fiction. With Lucy Mercer, she co-edits TOO LITTLE/TOO HARD, a magazine on the intersections of work, time and value. She lives in London.