Saturday, March 08, 2008

hear me

i’m at the age
where I begin to understand
why a man not primarily an author wrote so many books
there is always more to do

and have burnt my thumb enough
to know why church boys use
long brass stick-things to light deep candles
it pays to be careful

and i know why i’m not
like a seven year old
that pops up in the morning
and starts hopping and running around
kids can do that

i’ve done circles
and pop in the morning
so i get up sounding like someone eating
breakfast cereal out of a box

Friday, March 07, 2008

noise

nearly gone are creaking man-pulled carts

amid narrow stone alleys
the tired depths of old roma
nearly quiet
well after midnight
a woman's clicking heels on pavement stones
tap sharp
rhythmic echoing clicks
small, light hammers on an anvil
like voices from those passing on the street
that scale the walls to windows above
and to the roof tops

then, early
in silent dawn
a small delivery truck
the size of a golf cart
starts its engine

roars, barks and sparks
loud without a muffler
limping from a storage area
under the arch, heading the other way
toward the outdoor market in piazza campo dei fiori

here, thirty yards from the arch
the sound like a chainsaw gone mad rattles our windows
people who live the way he passes
those people
those poor sleep interrupted people
i pity every market day
for roma has no ordinance
against noise

Thursday, March 06, 2008

some country mile

on a rolling back road slowdown
not quite lost
we paused our car just off to the side
the air was still and nearly warm
we sat looking, talking a while
"let's get out and walk,"
she said and i nodded

enjoying the quiet woods on foot
once by a pattering stream
where sun glinted on
the tapestry of life
this dramatic natural scene

i thought
to stroll with her is always new
now and then we'd hold hands
it seemed we'd gone quite far
you are my everything,
dear partner, all the things you are

interrupting my reverie
calling me back from afar
tenderly she whimpered into my ear
"honey, where'd you park the car?

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

to divulge sad facts

meri thinks i have obsessive compulsive behavior
because i take the milk off the stove before it boils

we drink italian coffee and our small apparatus makes the equivalent of two half-cups at a time
at first i used cold milk, but then meri started heating it
but we have to watch it
milk practically explodes when it boils

now i guard against that and attempt to take the milk off the stove early. meri thinks i remove it too quickly.

"i am being prudent," i explain.

"you're like jack lalanne.".

"why jack lalanne?" i asked.

"because he ties his feet to the side of the pool and does
and hour of swimming the breaststroke - everyday," she said.

i see

"it boiled one time and i wanted to prevent it from happening again."

"that's obsessive compulsive behavior!" she declared.

i call it the difference between boys and girls.
tea anyone?

our apartment

one apartment over
one floor up
across our tiny street
is a million dollar apartment
i can practically see in the window

only fifty feet from me and happiness

we have friends in the states who
proudly proclaimed they have a home that was never previously lived in
i bet while they built it the workers used to pee in the corner

our lousy apartment on a former worst street in roma
is over five hundred years old
back then they used to throw crap out the window
(that is a euphemism of course, i don't know what they threw, but they didn't have indoor plumbing, and the romans aren't known for their consideration)

michaelangelo, cellini and bernini could have been here in our building
and if they were, they were probably drunk
this is a former spot for gambling, drinking and a whorehouse
forty years ago even the police wouldn't walk down this street

a hundred paces away is campo dei fiori, the former execution ground
giordorno bruno was burnt at the stake by the church there
because he contradicted the church when he said the earth was not the center of our universe
that bastard

hey, sun goes up, sun goes down
and our crappy, dark, tiny apartment is still here
now on million euro row.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

prospero

"hello, hello, where are you from?"
he calls to the tourists to bring them closer
in english, french or german
a smattering of languages

near the center of campo dei fiori
by the statue of bruno
at times in the sun
sometime in shade
a simple long table
covered with a cloth
is set with demo vegetables for cutting into curly shapes and spires

prospero he is called
who sells small plastic novelty, yet practical cutters for vegetables
does it from a chair at his table
not from behind the table
but outside, alongside his audience

the jovial old roman
with a look of alert kindness about him
lived thirty years in the ghetto
always did laborer work
now for seven years he has been here

as i pass near i hear tourists chuckle when he blows bubbles
and puts on his entertaining presentation for them
making them laugh
he laughs with them
and enjoys the work
clean and simple
this is retirement done well

Monday, March 03, 2008

a way

the hard part is the thing
between winter and spring
when i need to check twice
to see which coat to bring

the heavy one has a hood
and the day i removed it i started alternating
my light jacket with the hood-less heavy one
depending on how cold it is

depending on the weather
i change all my stuff from one jacket to the chosen other
bam-slam two-fisted organization is the key!
okay, so i kinda got the organization idea from meri
but then, hey, i figured it out my way!

everything gets a certain pocket
so i know where to reach for it
i get my money, coins in one pocket and folded money
i bring my phone - hopefully charged, a pen
my keys and any notes, my id, just the essentials
my bus ticket, cigarettes and lighter
then bam

out the door
on my way
i forgot my keys
what can i say

what do you mean no keys?
i'm locked out!

i was just going to the corner to get a loaf of bread
takes about a minute
meri will be coming out in three to six hours maybe
and i'm locked all the way, way out

this is worse than a couple of months ago
when i came home and didn't have my keys
and heard a voice yelling my name
it was my friend with a shop down the street

i had stopped and sat on the coach and talked a while
my keys fell out of my pocket and she saw them before i reached my locked door

this time i forgot my phone cause i just was going to the corner
meri was home on the third floor in the back room
the door buzzer for the building is broken
but i got the loaf of bread

there was no rock to throw at the window
i tried that once when i was a kid
and broke a neighbors second-story kitchen window
with a mudball that landed in my neighbor's grandmother's pie

thank god my current neighbor on the first floor looked out
saw me and let me in

this time, no problem
i got in
so when all seems lost
don't give in and don't toss rocks

Sunday, March 02, 2008

button fix

you talk about a heart ache
when all we do is wake up
to find another thing that doesn't work
another nail in the board of pain
something simple, to be sure
god, i hope it doesn't rain

we can't heat the water
the indicator won't light
despite pushing repeatedly
results were out of sight

the water heater button's broken
of that there's no doubt
finally, the fourth store i checked had another
we're half way to being fixed

i got a card of an electrician from the electrical store
cause we seemed to have an excess of wires
this guys has been working at the italian senate building for twelve years so he must be good
or somebody's cousin
he said he'll show up in three hours
we'll just patiently wait
hot water will be ours

practically easy
nothing is lost
we'll wait and see
how much it will cost

all we need is resolution
to keep to the road until the end
it just seems harder when your older
things take longer to mend

three hours pass and i call the guy again
his phone isn't on, but he calls back in a few minutes
he delays his arrival time and add two more hours to his estimate
so i sit down and wonder and wait, will we really have hot water

he calls and is near, i give final directions and he comes
i'm out on the street when this guy is walking down
i see him and he sees me, there is something about
the way were both looking around that we identify each other

this guy looks like a messy carpet stuffer with a coat on
i don't know what carpet stuffers look like either
but marcello fits the description
and he talks romano which is a street slang, and that gets me worried
who did i hire to do the work here in our home?

i bring him in, marcello asks my name
two minutes later when we're talking he calls me jack
and this is a big leap, cause most italians either can't say my name
or can't remember it

there are problems and he works around them
we talk and get along well
a second switch has to be changed and he does it
he improvises and easily makes things better

what a pleasant adventure to meet a new guy who is sympathetic, normal, and competent.

everything is neat
when i asked the price he said twenty. i gave him thirty and we both are satisfied.
i made a friend and so did he

Saturday, March 01, 2008

autogrill

as you drive along the autostrada
ahead is a covered bridge that spans the highway
with a parking area on the right and on the left
look! it's not a bridge
it's auto grill
everyone is saved

half way to anywhere in forty countries
you'll find the multinational food and retail conglomerate
at airports and on highways
serves food to drivers
has clean restrooms

and if you go when it is not meal time in italy
it will be nearly empty
at meal time it will be packed

you pull off and park
go up two floors by stairs or an elevator
and the restaurant and store part spans the highway
nice view

want a postcard, chocolate or a small sandwich, t-shirt and coffee
you've got it
(cd's and perfume also available)

Friday, February 29, 2008

fontana di trevi

i came out of the bank and walked left
down the street, just behind trevi fountain
pointing to the closed doors on the opposite side when i
asked a shop keeper why the engraving museum isn't open
he shrugged and said it's one block over

at the fountain i walked around the front
in 19 b.c. romans built the acqueduct
that brings water from the hills 8 miles out of roma
it actually travels 14 miles before it gets here
even water gets the run-around

in 1953 roman holiday with audrey hepburn and cary grant
brought the fountain to our attention

i had walked nearly all the way around before i looked at the fountain
after a hundred times in that square i didn't have to look right away
watching where i was going through the many tourists
kept me occupied

the middle point around i was at the church
the point of the three roads intersecting
tre vie, three roads, trevi

years ago i sat on those church steps opposite the fountain
drawing it for an hour or two
passing tour groups woke me to realize
more buses than i could recall
had entered the piazza one at a time
unloaded and reloaded and left

i looked toward the waters again
no wonder they all come
it's such a pretty fountain

Thursday, February 28, 2008

john and bill

we went to the post office at san silvestro
to pay the fine we got yesterday
for not paying the exit toll at the autostrada,
because the machine was broken

the post office was like a fifteenth century
first class lounge with fifty service windows
we paid the one euro fine instead of
waiting for them to increase the fine
and repossess everything we own,
i don't know about jail time

then we walked next door
to the church san silvestro in capite
meri took a picture of the head of john the baptist

about five places around the world
claim to have his head,
the place i doubt is
disneyworld in orlando - come on!

then we walked around the corner
to the cafe greco at the foot of the spanish steps
and saw a photo of buffalo bill cody
taken when he was there in 1903

here it is one hundred five years later
not only is the bar still there
but the furniture is the same
point that out to your wife the next time
she wants to do some redecorating at home

just your average day in the dis-average roma

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

bus drivers in roma

wwhat’s the big hurry with the bus drivers?
did mommy or daddy chase them with a bus?

some of them can drive ok but don’t stop well
bad, let’s say the truth - they stop like hell

the passengers get jerked all around.
those standing spin like pole dancers

did they really pass a driving test?
who gave it to them, their girlfriend?

what's the bus man's rush all about anyway?
they have to work their shift, don't they?

if it was the number of circuits they had to make
they’d get someone to lie for them about how many

then they'd knock off early
which could be best for all

some drive well, this i must admit, and some
are kind and considerate to their passengers

there are exceptions to every rule
still others curse and drive and drool

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

obelisks

i knew what obelisks were all of my life
but until i walked in the shadow of one
and saw the intricate inscriptions that i cannot read
did i feel their strength and splender

there are 30 in the world, all from egypt
13 in roma, in egypt only seven, four standing
the ones in london and new york
used to be in roma

san giovanni's in roma
is the tallest in the world, 105 feet,
originally 140 feet
and the oldest - 15 century b.c.

a true obelisk is made from one piece of stone
so they say
washington monument is 555 feet tall
many pieces, but obelisk enough for me

in roma obelisks are impossible to avoid
easy to glance at from afar
worth seeking out
magnificent to examine

Monday, February 25, 2008

artists dinner

saturday all of us met for dinner
at marina's house in the country

eight robust artist types
drank wine and laughed

bread, fruit, cheese, and one oven cooked chicken
we ate and ate, enjoyed talking, and then ate more

then when we were finished
all completely well satisfied

we noticed there was chicken left over
no drugs, no miracle, how could it be?

Sunday, February 24, 2008

anzio

we took a train an hour south to anzio
a thousand others had the same idea

had a fine seafood lunch at the lovely port
so did the thousand others

our seafood anti-pasta for two
came on fifteen different large plates

how can there still be fish in the sea?
we sure are eating a lot of it

note that everything at the anzio station is broken
and covered with more graffiti than we've seen anywhere else

the day was sunny and warm
and full of people

it's not yet spring, the tourists haven't even arrived
and they will

Saturday, February 23, 2008

just checking

today we rented a car, were returning it
and were ten feet from the entrance to the car rental place
on a busy street, turn signal on

twenty feet farther a group of police stood
one flagged us to pull ahead, i told meri to just turn
i waved no to the cop, we're turning in here, be sensible
"no , this is police work, drive forward and stop"

meri did what they said.
while the first cop was asking her for documents etc.
i got out of the car and asked another cop, "who's the boss?"
he was the boss

"why stop us, we were turning back there?"
"it's a car check"
"there are plenty of cars for you to check." i pointed
indeed, many others were speeding by

"where are you from?, he asked
not answering his question, i responded, "i'm a citizen of roma"
that stopped him. he didn't expect me to yell at him in italian.
and that citizen of roma stuff always works

"you know this is ridiculous," i said.
"well, this is how things are done in italy," he replied.
i said, "i know."

and that is the whole truth, your honor

Friday, February 22, 2008

the pantheon

marcus agrippa is credited for first building this ancient shrine
destroyed by fire in 80 a.d., built again in 125 a.d.
the oldest standing domed structure in rome
perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world

erected, destroyed, rebuilt again, it's original purpose unknown
a circular building, a temple dedicated to all the gods
and for the people, who have always come to this place

the interior a perfect circle, the diameter and height are 43 meters
inside, to the center, below the circular vaulted roof opening, called the great eye, the oculus, over 8 meters in diameter
we paused to enjoy and appreciate

meri, looking through that eye to the sky, saw a lone bird fly over
and asked how i was at reading auguri, omens, signs from the heavens
i held her and smiled

a step at a time, i have no insight into what may be
we do the best we can with what we have
slowly it keeps changing, we'll wait and see

outside to the base of a pillar on the sunny side
we sat to watch for a while
with no particular purpose in mind
two small local boys played as children have for ages
on their marble slab home turf of the pantheon

taking in the bright day
amid the quiet well-ordered mirth
still aware for whatever it's worth
that these precious moments are joys
for our brief time on earth

Thursday, February 21, 2008

weather roma

on a map for italy's weather there were
eighteen suns over lazio, the region of roma

oh, look at venezia, how many suns
count 'em up, there's almost twenty

i found a four percent chance of precipitation
on a clear day, repeated every hour

the amount of winds, negligible
but mentioned frequently

a chart of projections for the day
updated in two hour increments

complete - not completely
no mention of temperature

figlio di putanna, isn't the amount of clouds
and eighteen suns over roma enough for you?

unless we tell you otherwise
weather will continue as usual

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

iced over

a door is opened a crack
and on the back
of my neck
a cold wind pushes me
to recollect a day walking, walking
in the snow with my hands in my pockets
with my head low and nose cold
walking in the wind, in the snow
long ago

to or from somewhere
saw some friends
going to the corner store

city-old maples
fat and icy
tap their limbs upon windows
no one can let them in

puddles on the curb
round the corner
on the curve
iced over

run down the street
feet and ice meet
slide on the sheet
iced over
in the wind, in the snow
long ago

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

house

our house is your home
would you move out please
we just bought it

we made an offer on a house
in the country, an hour out of roma
the house needs attention
it’s all there, but not how we’d do it

what do we want? something else.
how do we want it? easy.
will we know it when we see it?
maybe, but don't bet on it.

globalization will do away with choice
one burger, one car, one house
why should we complain?
it’s less expensive to make it all the same

and why should it stop? with stem cell technology
one dog: part cat, part fish, part chicken
when you’re done playing with it
you can eat it