“Siena Palio Race” by Juan Felix Campos
gothic Romanesque backdrop
a rich-storied city-state
kissed by the Renaissance
settles low hills warm in
Tuscan penumbra of Florence
unchanged of aesthetic physique
since the plague of Decameron
keeping with cultural ritual
secular pageantry dresses
contrada identities vivid with
colors of deep-seated rivalry
atmosphere dripping with intrigue
elaborate scheming for slightest
advantage of horseflesh and post
madly flaunting the flutter of silks
in a set piece of modern medieval
contention arranged as a primitive
organized melee a battle-drawn race
for the prize of parochial pride
from ten precincts ten pennants
ten riders ten mongrel-bred horses
no saddles no stirrups no quarter
three times through the courses in
no-holds-barred bareback abandon
crops wildly flail at the flanks of
opponents no less than of steeds
in the end it’s a horse who will win
whether mounted or lost of its rider
to acts of aggression or accident
much to the jeer and the joy of the crowd
as in life harsh with circumstance
such are the perils of Palio
