stupenda monotonia del mistero
Stupenda Monotonia del Mistero is a video collection documenting readings of the Pasolini poem “Diario.” During my stay in the city I asked Roman residents I met to spontaneously read the poem wherever they happened to be, which was often, but not always, at work. They frequently responded with enthusiasm to the poem itself and to Pasolini, the man, "una bella persona,” who celebrated the marginal. As an artist and a visitor who doesn't speak Italian I asked for a favour which was repeatedly, graciously, gracefully granted. Readers in subsequent conversation tended to affirm the absolute importance and interdependence of ethics and aesthetics for all. The readings are unique and intimate while also revealing the existence of a highly conscious public experience. Internal formal repititions of the poem reflecting thought on the non-progressive nature of existence are echoed in the repititions of the readings.
DIARIO
Adulto? Mai – mai, come l'esistenza
che non matura – resta sempre acerba,
di splendido giorno in splendido giorno -
io non posso che restare fedele
alla stupenda monotonia del mistero.
Ecco perche, nella felicita
non mi sono abbondonato – ecco
perche nell'ansia delle mie colpe
non ho mai toccato un rimorso vero.
Pari, sempre pari con l'inespresso,
all'origine di quello che io sono.
Translation by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Francesca Valente:
DIARY
Grown up? Never--never--!
Like existence itself
which never matures
staying always green
from splendid day to splendid day--
I can only stay true
to the stupendous monotony
of the mystery.
That's why I've never abandoned myself
to happiness,
that's why
in the anxiety of my sins
I've never been touched
by real remorse.
Equal, always equal,
to the inexpressible
at the very source
of what I am.