Greta Rosso
Translated from the Italian by Michael Chang
Yellow is Irene’s favorite color
I like the yellowed pages of mysteries
If you mix yellow & red, you get orange
(the color of many delicious fruits)
Yellow is, people say, the color of madness
It’s certainly the color of liver disease & sunsets
For me, yellow days are a puzzle, the paradox of those
who can’t cope with the world & yet remain in it like
the opposite of everything
Yellow is the scream of lemon hitting your teeth
on summer days that manhandle & scratch, the hot hours
cursing the yellow of suns in children’s drawings
Yellow is the light bulb that blesses two heads looking
at each other under it, a pair of lovebirds having run
out of things to say.
Greta Rosso is the author of Manuale di insolubilità (LietoColle-Pordenonelegge, 2015), winner of the Castello di Villalta Young Poets Award.
Michael Chang (they/them) is the author of THINGS A BRIGHT BOY CAN DO (Coach House, 2025) and HEROES (845 Press, 2026).