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The collection gathers lyrical sequences and sonnets in a confessional voice that probes modern female identity, desire, and social performance. One extended autobiographical sequence composed of many thirteen-line terzine reads like a novel without plot, tracing appetite, flirtation, indifference, and the exhilaration of urban fashion and nightlife; other poems, including more compact sonnets, record earlier romantic suffering and youthful passions. The speaker juxtaposes classical female archetypes with a contemporary Parisian model to explore ambivalence toward love, liberty, and reputation, using vivid sensory detail, psychological introspection, and recurring images of gaze, costume, jealousy, and theatricalized seduction.
Tu ieri con le tue pallide mani
per altre donne ancor sfogliavi rose,
per altre già ne sfoglierai domani.
Oggi la tua sottile arte compose
per me una lieve ghirlandetta molle
da scomporre con dita desïose.
Insieme noi sfacemmo le corolle
soavi per estrarne ogni dolcezza,
per gustarla con bocca un poco folle.
Pure, non so da chi, qualche amarezza
mi viene: forse dalla donna ignota
che sentirà domani la carezza
del tuo respiro sopra la sua gota.