In a letter to the Sackners, Hirschman explains that the two poems constituting this book have not been previously translated into English. These poems are about Calabria in southern Italy. The first poem mentions the Kaballah and letters in "black characters" that are unidentified. Pasolini though raised a Catholic has a Jewish grandmother on his mother's side. In one of his most important poems about Marx, Einstein and Freud, he speaks of himself as Jewish which is usually evaded in Italian circles. The second poem deals with Algerians living in Italy. Hirschman believes Pasolini used the cruciform to resolve religious textures in the two poems. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.