Monday, January 28, 2008
coincidences
that morning she saw him at roccos breakfast place
in another part of the city
many times I have seen familiar faces
on the other side of town
on the same day
a few days ago I had the idea to call ambra from the train
she already was at the next stop
waiting to board our train
she got on at the tiburtina stop
we had a nice talk for a half-hour or so
then she was on her way
there are two and a half million people here, but
I’ve noticed, and so have friends, that you see people
when you don't expect to.
roma is like that
Sunday, January 27, 2008
sunday in roma
We crossed in front where the well uniformed Carbinieri stand watch at the national monument, then walked around the side.
An art show of works by Paul Gauguin was underway at the Veneziana. There was quite a line.
On the side of the monument we started down the walk on the old crude pavement stones. Years ago we were there when tour group was coming up the hill and heard the guide call instructions to his group. Then a a few moments later a member of the group repeated the call to some stragglers “This is a part of the original Roman road, we have two minutes to get on the bus.”
Near the back side of the building we descended a staircase to the old jail where it is said that both Peter and Paul were prisoners and miraculously escaped. There are no signs to indicate this, and as with much of old Rome, you have to know what and where things are.
Then on the back side of the monument we stood over the old Roman Forum that stretches several hundred yards and two thousand years to the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum. These Forum ruins are what is left of the Rome of the Ceasars. The worn buildings have been stripped and tumbled for centuries and recycled, in part to provide material to build the current old building of Rome.
Much of old Rome remains in the Forum, and today the tourists were about as plentiful as the residents and merchants on a market day of old. Oddly, the population of Rome is about the same as it was two thousand years ago, two and a half million.
Then we walked up and around to the Campidoglio, saw the statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback and the square that Michelangelo designed to show it off. Today a wedding was taking place at the popular spot for civil weddings.
Then around and up again to a breathtaking terrace view over rome.
“Where’s the camera?” I asked reaching out for it.
”Didn’t you bring it? You were going to bring it.” She said.
“I thought you were bringing it,” I said.
“I charged the batteries, you were going to bring the camera. That’s the last thing you said,” she reminded.
“I asked if you were going to bring the camera.”
“And, you said you were going to bring it,” she said.
Then down, across the street and through the ghetto. A ceremony was going on as we passed. The president of the Hebrew community was speaking for the day of remembrance. The Nazis of World war II will not be forgotten.
We boarded the tram across the Tiber to Trastevere. We tried two different tables at a crowded Italian restaurant that was filled to overflowing with deaf people this day, so we opted to return another day, left and had Chinese food at our nearby regular Sunday restaurant.
Our friend maria met us, and said next week she’d take us to an old Roman eatery nearby.
We had coffee, talked and then returned home at dark. It was a fine day in Roma.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
the blog has
some is italy and some is me
i wake up swimming in it
sea to si'
which poetic voice to use
something old or something new
what do you want?
what to do?
a friend wants to know a good place to eat
and all of roma pops up in front of me
i’ll come up with an answer when I see him
but for now it’s business as usual
meri and i went to lunch at Pasquali’s
sat the common table for the locals,
the citizens of roma, the head count.
how good can lunch at a family hole in the wall be?
saturday and the cook knows us
red pasta and a half liter of red
as good as it gets
then an electric bus home
presto, that's italian
that sounds like it means
Thursday, January 24, 2008
i entered
then gave attention to a sun-fraction
that gleamed on my eye as i stood
stolen from a somewhere frozen january dream
falling attentive to the intense stream
that poured into this darkened space,
my mind made mention to air dust
rising liquid white-tinted in the beam
from an up-high hole in the wall
came the length of light shooting,
blowing across my winter illusion
smokey air that swirled like snows
i took a prism from lying around
to hold the glass in the white falling
this caught-broken beam, interrupter of dream,
sans sound, played a colorful serenade scene.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
since man's
a period quite concise
we’ve sought to find our collective worth
and never are precise
it seems that none who’ve suffered birth
have been able to entice
knowledge to enter at full girth
or, to take one’s own advice
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
cell phones
the italians took off with cell phones
use and abuse
they were hooked
everyone had one
and used them all the time
everywhere they’d go
in restaurants, stores, on the buses, in their cars
wandering in trances on foot up and down the street
crowding in groups of three or five or six
they’re all on the phone
or stopping one at a time on the sidewalk
waving hands and explaining something
it looked crazy, a mania
and for all the talking
all the talking
everyone talking
you’d think the world would change
and perhaps it has
italians have achieved the highest cell phone rates
in europe
realizing it
as suddenly as it began
they are now talking less
Monday, January 21, 2008
the buffalo
when secretaries call in sick
and postmen wear goulashes
go to the zoo and take in what’s left
splash along the water-covered concrete
past occasional trees bent, looking away
from the wind’s lick
see the muddy, mucky, peanut-shelled patch
where there stands the buffalo
knee-deep, with dirty, unkempt, matted hair
his eyelids closing out the drizzle
shoulders that held up america
clothed the indians in a montana mountain snow
fed starving wagoneers not quite to the promised land
mark of the plains
symbol of an era
it is fitting that he be visited
for his eyelids are closing now, america
Sunday, January 20, 2008
lost him in the sun
played and sang them
with incredible american spirit
I’m grateful for
brief contact and
hold longstanding admiration
for all this great artist of our time has given
thank you, john stewart
i had the good fortune to speak briefly with john in ’65
at the north hollywood’s palomino in ’77
and the in the early 90’s in mill valley
where i didn’t know, but she told me,
it was buffy’s mom I gave a ride home in my ‘52 chevy truck
john, it was influential to have heard
your songs calling out to me
the lonesome picker has died
long live his memory
where the chilly winds don't blow
for every daydream believer
Saturday, January 19, 2008
to home
with motorinos parked on both sides
and a lot of people, young and old, about on the narrow street
i began walking the few blocks home
i didn't hear the car come up behind me
or turn to look
as it sped past inches away
cabs, buses and four or five motorcyles
rocketed by as I crossed near the crosswalk
through the confusion
looking straight ahead
noise, movement
life in the city
everyone has their space
and uses every inch of itanother train
again to Orte, an hour north of roma
this time to look at a house the church is selling
two apartments, one each floor
and a basement, 500 meters squared
not your typical home
ancient, interesting, particular
the basement goes down three levels
with a dozen winding caves, wine press, a well and tunnels
all dug by hand into the rock
dating back 2600 years
by the etruscansThursday, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
are you now, or have you ever
one of the great things about night
is that it gets dark
think about it.
it even cools down at night
it’s like a time out
let’s keep it that way
back in ’02 vienna, austria was the first place in the world
to pass a law about light pollution.
the people who passed the law must have bitched as much as i do.
have you seen a photo of earth from space?
it’s lit up like a christmas tree
don’t get me wrong, I like free light. It’s great to have your house lit up and not have to pay for it.
but not with a street light shining in at all hours
who wants to be able to read the small print in the phone book in bed with the lights off?
so I wake up early - four or so
bad guys should do that
then sit quietly alone
they’d cause less trouble
and quit going to meetings where there are flags, banners or emblems
and don’t take any oaths
i like to sit in the dark.
when a light is on do the cops drive by
and wonder what’s going on in there?
“jack, there’s six guys in military fatigues and flack jackets in your laboratory taking all the lids off your paint cans.”
i heard that old people got up at night
but I’ve always done it
trouble sleeping?
no trouble at all
i like getting up when it’s quiet
even the dogs are asleep
the good thing about kitties is that they don’t bark
ever
and you don’t have to follow them around
with a plastic bag
we have a neighbor dog that gets up to pee
at two in the morning and then barks once to be let in
that’s cute
unless I’m sleeping with the window open
one bark and I’m up
light pollution and dog pollution
I like animals that are vegetarians
And totally biodegradable
headache, neuritus, neuralgia?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Sunday, January 13, 2008
sunday in trastevere
he lives just up the street on san francisco ripa but
it started raining and he can't carry an umbrella
on crutches
someone opened a car door in front of his
motorcycle a month ago
he broke a leg
to get out of the rain
instead of going into the restaurant
we waited inside santa maria in trestevere
for our friend maria
then had chinese food
when she arrived
and passed a good time
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-santa-maria-in-trastevere.htm
Saturday, January 12, 2008
orte
we rode an hour north by train to grey, stone Orte
built high atop a hill in 1300 and still intact
on quiet turning, odd angled streets the gentle bus man
told us of a restaurant just off the main piazza
each step revealed a scene to paint or photograph
the eating spot was quiet, provincial and well appointed
in a tired, sophisticated country way
we each had different tasty local pastas with red wine
after, coffee at a traditional bar, filled with locals
then took refuge in a somber old shelter built in a wall
and awaited ten minutes for the local bus
then caught a train in the rain back to roma
Thursday, January 10, 2008
aquaforte engraving
this is my sixth year of doing them
this one, called "the builders",
was done on a zinc plate about five by seven inches
if you make an error it shows
you can't erase
a wax coating is applied, then scratched off the plate
then dipped in a 75% solution of nitric acid, cleaned,
inked and printed on paper that has been soaked
in water
it is a slow process of planning, preparation and execution
one at a time is printed
click on the photo to enlarge
a snowy day
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
tram ride
Four young italians on tram 8
were laughing and taking photos
of the back of a mans head
riding on the tram.
(not just the head –
the whole man was riding on the tram)
The elderly balding man
had a five cent piece
stuck on the back of his head.toward home
turning toward home
i walk collar up, huddled in random, quiet thought
amid the turmoil of cobblestoned old roma
tempered by the ages
of michelangelo, bernini,
shelly, keats,
and fellini
“oh, marcello” laments sophia
these weary streets are covered by now silent footsteps
put down through the ages
between some dusted grey buildings
nearly black, unattended
or vulgared in dashes by modern signage
how swiftly leaps time
day and night swing over
venders, thieves, beggars
in alleys
swarmed with map-clad tourists
while around thunder large buses and sirens
and all passersby suck exhaust
above are broken shutters, some missing
weather worn graffiti scratched in stone
potted plants on high-railed private terraces face the sky so as to look away from it all
core of me
the dentist says my tooth has a crack in
So its going to happen
extraction
another tooth is goin’ away
i’ve lost a few already
like someone who loses a limb and still has feelings in it
could this tooth be the core of me
maybe they’re all wrong and my brains are in it
the very core of me
yank it and I’ll be gone
wait and see