
Our World Word by Word
Arrivaderci Firenze
Today was our last day in Florence. We spent the morning at the Uffizi, which has some of my favorite art of all times. Maybe it was the crowds of tour groups tramping through that got to me, but I was peeved about people taking pictures of the paintings instead of actually looking at the art. Do we have to see the entire world through our iPhones and cameras? Of course, ironically, there I was taking photos with my phone of people taking photos.
Firenze Poem
At Feral Mom, Feral Writer, my friend, Tania Pryputniewicz just wrote about a wonderful morning we spent together in Calistoga, and has challenged me to write a Z poem. Here in Florence it seems a lovely thing to do. Thank you, Tania.
For Tania From Italy
Here z's
are everywhere:
Firenze
scamorza
pizzeria
palazzo
zabaglione
Piazza della Stazione
Via Panzini
San Lorenzo
Uffizi
Rizzo
They fly from my mouth,
zip through the air
like chimney swifts
circling the great dome
outside my window.
Violin music swirls up
from the piazza below.
Delizioso.
Dancing With The Madonna
Madonna of the Pomegranate
- A painting by Sandro Botticelli in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence,
Italy
I have waited here for centuries,
clasping this heavy infant in my
lap,
beset by the whispers of angels –
always words of
praise and adoration,
alleluia and Ave Maria.
Glory becomes tedious.
Sometimes I think the child
teases me holding
a pomegranate in his hand,
its ripe skin split to reveal its
seeds –
glistening rosary beads
which tempt me
to seize something for myself.
Visitors no longer notice me,
never puzzle the meaning
of the strange fruit
my son carries.
They would much rather exult
in the riot of Spring,
the brilliance of Venus.
I long to shake off these stiff
robes,
clothe myself in waves,
strew my hair with roses and
dianthus.
I’d like to sink my teeth deep
into the pomegranate,
roll the seeds across my tongue,
be-rouge my lips with juice.
To relieve my monotony,
I’d relish anything,
even welcome
the revelation of fear.
How lucky was Persephone!
(Poem originally published in my chapbook, In the Poem an Ocean, Big Table Publishing Co. 2012)