More Poems from Genova

An Evening Service

The gathering crowds assemble by the gate
Arriving early so as not to find themselves late
They turn the corner to spot their friends
Desperate to settle scores and make amends

The peace they seek is celebrated with song
And you will be welcomed should you happen along
They have been enemies for so long these two
Their squabbles have been petty a settlement long overdue

Today the beggars hold out their hands and plead
For loose change to buy the things they need
Responding with such open generosity may seem
To say the least somewhat more than just extreme

Disasters sent by God are clearly meant to hasten
The day that humankind is finally chastened
And then the final trumpet call will be heard at last
Then what was present or in the future will be past

Visiting Figarolo

The road snakes steeply twisting
Through trees to the tall house
Where eagles soar in the evening sun
Above the castellated terrace

The gradient twists steeply as it rises
Engines struggle as they attempt the hill
Gears grinding, clutch slipping on the ascent
Across the valley two dogs bark their warning

On these steep terraces vines grow
Leaning out towards the warming Sun
In spring the grapes fill with the promise
Of soft Ligurian wine in the first blush of autumn

The year turns gently as months
Pass breezes stir the trees rustling
Like conversation between people
For whom time holds neither fear nor meaning

The dogs continue to bark their warnings
Across the valley between the houses clinging
Precariously to the steep hillside echoes
Resonating between pastel coloured walls



Fetish Dolls

A steady walk
through difficult
terrain avoiding cracks
in pavements

Can’t risk the chance
of falling through into
an underworld
of fetish dolls

The dangers
are clear to see
the risks of harm
the lesions, wounds

Infections
passed by the meal-
worm boring under
the itching skin

The dolls fashioned
by the witch doctors
are carved and painted
the curses uttered

Poison inserted
where it counts
in vagina, anus
hair and mouths

Before they bring harm
you must wash in
pure water under
the sacred waterfall

The cold will chill
as the beams of bright
sunshine warm
your soft skin

In time, covered
again you walk
back clearing a path
through the forest

Until the road
re-appears
and you tread more
carefully to avoid
the cracks

Not risking the chance
of falling through into
an underworld
of fetish dolls

At the Palazzo

Under corvetto, the umbrella
Sellers sell their wares
Under corvetto the art
Drips with condensation
Glistening in the light

Across assarotti, taking
Your life in your hands
Across assarotti you risk
Assassination by berlusconis
Mafi hoods feigning madness
In the heat of the night

Here Ruby dances, her clothes
Discarded her modesty in tatters
Her underwear draped suggestively
From the street lights, her naked
Form held like a cello
In a double clef

The pizza in the wood burning
Oven of the trattoria is ready
The organ in the Chiesa
Rumbles its deep bass notes
As the ice cream sellers set out

And the wine is poured
The caffe corretto downed
And we are ready to face
The music of another night
As the guests gather at the palazzo