back in rome
after that tuscan week
we also needed three
on three successive nights
to say goodbye
fully
on the same afternoon i visit both
one famous for angels and martyrs
like so many marys
i’ve encountered this trip
the other where
finally
she takes the win
or as it’s more officially known
Santa Maria Della Vittoria
st mary of the victory
i’m so pleased
at this protean feminism
i forget
to take a picture
upstairs of michelangelo‘s david
only an unnamed painter
dismissed as mediocre
(described barely by association
with influencers Agnolo Gaddi and Lorenzo Monaco
themselves hardly tik tok stars in this academy)
empathises with the needy, the orphans and widows
depicts st yves advocate of the poor
ignoring the fawning rich on his left
dispensing small rights to the under side
roman legions trudged through borgetto the evening before
camping at lake tresimano where the next June dawn
2241 years ago almost to this day
befogged betwixt the mongrel hordes of Hannibal they were
defeated
cyclists traversing lake‘s circuit criss cross this solo walker
and the lone Kress 1200R robot lawnmower tending its grounds
should they wish sight of the 258 borgetto inhabitants
remaining according to the 2001 census they would be
disappointed
later that day massimo of nearby passignano informs that
borgetto lies at the intersection of umbria and tuscany
occupies the communes tuoro, cortona and castiglione
to which when property taxes are due they are paid
trisected
…on the footpath between Tuoro and Castiglione del lago, fortified by muesli and fruit, others i meet feed as they need
this was the panorama around the corner where
the mandatory defibrillator stood casually by
might such placement be
one wonders
in case cardiac excitation
precipitates a need for
immediate resuscitation
In 2021, semi-automatic and automatic electronic defribrillators (AEDs) became mandatory in public places in Italy
oh dear it’s not
Saint Peter’s basilica
the Santa Maria del Fiore
of flowers in Florence
the Venice San Marco
Assisi Saint Francis
or even the Parma
tailing at tenth
of famous duomos in Italy
the Cortona Cathedral
on republic day is alive
with real worship
as three pews of
neighbourhood youngsters
earnest with their parents
consecrate themselves in
the ceremony of first communion
and one not yet of age
kneels in anticipation
of tomorrow’s grace
Is it your ancient Etruscan walls, melon tombs
monumental funerary altar
tabula cortonensis
strategic control of territorial swathe
I too have my Etruscan necropolis, Roman baths
central position
anchoring Creta senesi, River Osborne
and torrent Copra
weren’t we both then
largely abandoned by history
suborned by wealth subdued by battle
slumbered through a count of centuries
what sly whimsy decreed that you be
favoured destination for spending sprees
while a-straddle the autostrada
i am the one to fade away
Under the Tuscan Sun
It’s a trip marked fully by the fully marked
Portents abounding from Rome to Florence to Cortona
Every step to the Brunelleschi cupola worn by forebears
Every snap in the Ufizi stale before the iPhone is aimed
Sunday afternoon taking out the trash to eco appropriate bins
(Even this task not mundane but meaningfully marked
so glass does not mingle irrelevantly irreverently with gross)
one finally has a roadside encounter shared only with the divine
antipodal 2011 