Rasennae

 

Decoration of Etruscan Tomb in Tarquinia

 
Etruscan gold primitive bones

raised up iron-age shoulders

lords of the sea tall as Greeks

proto west Europeans

whose women held privilege

a civilized city-state culture

of warrior merchants

in league of its talents for trade

master architects winemakers

metalwork artisans blessed

by exquisite refined ken

of function and form

a Tyrrhenian people who

thrived in the unwritten mists

of Italic prehistory

long before Gaius Octavius

undertook schema for empire

taking significant parts

of their models and myths

for the canons of Rome

a material people whose

ruins and relics still tantalize

all but mere gleanings of tombs

lost to conquest by time

life and language and liturgies

left to meticulous guesswork

of erudite dons who like me

share this bloodline of mystery

veins running sweet with

enigma and echo of origins

favored by warmth

in the whispers of

bronze Tuscan sun

Breakers

“Breaker Wave” by Michael Lanka

 

they churn in the breakers

those pieces of me

that struggled the seas

from the Mediterraneum

pulled to this promising shore

madly tumbling truths

of identity scrabble

to find one another

rebuild themselves into

this newly flagged patriot

proud born and reborn of eagles

who guard great republics

on both ends of

history’s ocean

 

 

(originally posted October 2013)

Totem

“Totem Walk” by Emily Carr

ancestral angels

administer secretly

animist sacraments

pointing out paths

of safe passage

through ritual

hewn iconography

boldly inscribes

old growth timber

staid canvas to render

stark creatures of

natural affinity

open-eyed spirit-guides

give of their tutelage

mystical descants

morality tales convey

wisdom that whispers

with linear memory

granting permission

for transit of time

across thresholds

of forest and future

permission who

cries to keep faith

with tradition

indigenous values

ennobling descendants

of kith kin and clan

tribal citizens worthy

of mother earth’s gifts

and possessed with the

mettle of warrior kings

“Gitwinkool Totem Poles” by Emily Carr

 

Old Souls

“Series Infinity” by Irfan Mirza

 

that old man
was the man
who was me
long before
I was born
spent his youth
as my son
till he grew
to become
my own father

wisdom chased
across arcs
around loops
by fleet folly
faith and
knowledge
bended back
on themselves
giving life and
death sacred
dimensions
of circles
and time
the atomic
momentum
of wheels
turning turning
returning with
infinite speed

(originally posted January 2014)

Extinction Event

“The Inner Path” by Catherine Husenau

place my bier on a plinth

aromatic combustible

settle me into transformative

grasp of historical fire

allow me a passage sublime

unto cinders and smoke

all the best worst and last

of me carried aloft by the

winds of a dissipate memory

recondite ritual somber

and sad not for me but for

those who preceded me

apt intellectual ancestors

models and mentors who

lent me their minds and their

mettle accepting me into

their philosophe clan

even knowing that I had

ideas of my own faithful

principles rooted but

not grown in clone of

enlightenment canons

alas I have died soon away

from this world the last

unblooded heir to a

diligent rational rigor and thus

has my tribe gone extinct

Firenze

“Dante and Beatrice, on Via Lungarno at Ponte Santa Trinita” by Henry Holiday

scatter my ashes
where Dante watched Beatrice
and death made a poet

here blood of my blood
did thrive in the renaissance
born to the pen

Palazzo Lenzi on Piazza Ognissanti – 2 blocks from the scene of Dante painted above

Bloodlines

“Family Reunion Abstract” by Ruth Yuhas

spirits surround me

singing their centuries

watching me teaching me

holding me up to a standard

of ancestry gauging my fit

in this story of bloodlines

collections of characters

famous and infamous

hopeful and hopeless

the brave and the craven

my place in the train

of this intimate history

left to their judgment

of all they will see in my eyes

just before being closed

by the coins of viaticum

Relic

 

“No Man’s Land” by Bernard Dumaine

 

 

 

bourbon with bubble baths
meat loaf with manicures
beards with bald heads
shave their chest hair
and football is now but a
game played in fantasy
no men these days would
give up their seat or would
dare open doors for a lady
honor and pride are
no longer sufficient
rewards for one’s effort

it seems I have outlived
the role that my father
with diligence trained me
to play in fulfillment of
ancestral contracts
the blood oaths between
men whose culture
required a masculine dignity
shaped by old centuries
men who loved women
enough to behave at all
times as true gentlemen

it seems I have outlived
my place in this world
disagreement transcends
intellectual honesty
ethical principles fail
to obtain due respect
I am relic among the
advance of rogue values
here twisting and turning
within what’s become
my own living grave
unburied unmourned

 

 

From my book Human Waters

Oilcloth

 

“Italian Immigrant Family” by Michael Pitocchi

 

 

(Regarding my grandmother’s kitchen)

 

subdued plaid

barely blue in that

otherwise colorless

well-worn white kitchen

it draped the huge table

where decades of life

spilled and sallied its noise

fifteen chairs none alike

for an immigrant family

precocious with earnest

opinions none alike

every meal heard the

spirited words of debate

in Italian and English

exchanged across clad

neutral tabletop vibrantly

bounced and returned

back and forth never mean

but each argument sturdy

and strong as that durable

utilitarian covering serving

as witness and host to the

process emerging de facto

of naturalization of stirring

the old and new worlds

of ideas and perspectives

to yield a rich blend of a

new generation of citizens

now slightly darker better

fed more emotional deeper

with roots of stout pride in

its empire and renaissance

histories filled with more

fiery passions and

firmly held values

new green white red

colors to liven the

subdued plaid

barely blue otherwise

colorless well-worn

American kitchen

 

 

From my book Onionskin

Living Righteous 2

“Beautiful Horse”
Wallpaper Photo
from fanpop.com

Living Righteous 2

(for my granddaughters)

head up eyes front
march a line cut a path
through temptation

own up to mistakes
heed the lessons they teach
author corrections

stand tall stand apart
be the woman all women
would admire

remember your blood
carries countless good souls
keeping your watch