Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
A sequence from the poet's samuddo/ocean project, set in Campania
Citation preview
pompeian figures
John Martone
samuddo / ocean2016
pompeian figurescopyright © 2016 by John Martone
samuddo / oceanisbn: [email protected]
link for a print copy of this book
pompeian figures
6
autumn — I wind scarf halfway around the world
7
at cumae the afterlife a photograph
8
avernus
people with gardens — there’s nothing to living right above hades
9
I build a stone wall for the sun to knock down
10
for the gardener in autumn a book about ruins
11
night deepens a table of irregular verbs
12
everyone comes to paint this bayeveryone dies
13
scugnizzi in sight of vesuvius — parallel play
14
presepe
living underground he builds nativity scenes — the straw is straw
15
understanding the language at last you come to a pawnshop
16
big winter coat talks to himself they come for him
17
the old men playing bocce you doze off
18
you speak differently after vesuvius
19
that camouflaged lizard on vesuvius imprinted in you
20
a handful of pebblesfrom vesuvius sinceyou can’t say a thing
21
a human shape you pocket a root on vesuvius
22
coins for that woman huddled on a church step outside pompeii
23
at pompeii
you’ve lain on your side curled-up like him in the ash
24
no one looking modern pick-&-shovel man lifts a roman stone
25
a cameo master cuts into shell at pompeii we all fit in
26
that married couple from pompeii — they see through you and write it down
27
at paestum
unearthed the diver’s sarcophagus forever now floating in space
28
2000 years — a curved stone bench — remember — or not — be seated
29
hera — this pomegranate’s a handful of myth
30
cutting into this pomegranate under the pines look who’s home
31
the pomegranate cut open — everyone is nameless
32
so much life — at 85 knocking olives from his grandfather’s trees
33
knocking down olives sleeves rolled up — no wedding ring no wristwatch
34
forgetting to change your shoes you take the shovel go out in good ones
35
standing before this three-century olive tree you copy it
36
bright day a cloth for this table
37
massa lubrense
a place to drink & smoke above the boatsbelow the mountains
38
for this wool cap & this pecorino —thanks
39
come to the sea after the ruins — a doric squall
40
those blue glass globes for fishing nets — back then floats up
41
dozen names on a mountain path mailbox word enough
42
the curved wall follows a narrow via somewhere you squeeze through
43
shoulder-wideeye-shape cave —a shrine!
44
in this narrow street an ancient lamp ripens at last
45
stone on stone on stone I feel at home
46
that dialect — behind white walls silence
47
those dark windows in cliffside stone houses how everything fits
48
there’s a plastic basket of wooden clothespins on the stone sill
49
you change the sheets as if this were some distant land
50
old age sickness death — stone houses float from these cliffs shutters flung open
51
lemon trees below your balcony that mandala
52
after pneumonia sore ribs go for a stroll in the garden
53
childhood prayer
“holy mary mother of god” inside you
54
water buffalo looks at me who can’t explain
55
a maritime pine leans from a cliff edge — shade plummeting —
56
in that dream you hear waves crash below — you’ve got a brass whistle
57
rain in campania — tonight you almost make out the words
58
so many goodbyes nowthe rain stops
59
after that rain the eaves keep dripping the pine holds on
60
villa on the bay — impressionist trees & sky — you can’t read his name
61
giacinto’s canvas — the back of your eye — those flecks of white light are sails
62
sketching that boat the pencil’s angle a lateen spar
63
roman terra cotta ground to powderhis pigment
64
a watercolor bay on the innermost wall the bay below
65
crushed olive leaf to paint a watercolor olive tree
66
the wind gets into the pines you didn’t know the god took such space
67
when the wind lets up those pines still bend — form gone in & you take root
68
the jade plant’s a succulent you sketch it
69
all that light — the fig tree leafs out in an old man’s room
70
time-lapse — you take a day to watch this fig leaf open
71
nets for olives & fishnets from small boats mending this world
72
pine nuts numbers are mystical
73
winter sun on the table breakfast
74
human life a little bit divinea little while
75
naples, castel nuovo
you find what you came for giotto’s fisherman mends his net
76
roofs bright with frost — water put on to boil — a verse from shakyamuni
77
sanctus andreas, amalfi
this vertigo — saints in every direction — you kneel before X
78
up 9 stone steps — wrought-iron gate & potted plant this century
79
madonna dell’idria
o girl carved of wood& wooden child — all one tree —a bell keeps tolling
