1999 MEMORY/RHYME POETIC

The waves make foam on the bank
evaporating
it's useless to throw water on the fire like at Cuma
the sun is gold, the moon is silver
and on the coast, Vesuvius smokes
the wind brings sulfur and smells
the gulf inspires a poem of a siren
protagonist of this Odyssey
it brings notes as gifts
with eyes like the night
skin like milk
the sea like a bed
I sing you this sonnet about a portrait of a goddess
you have to believe me
Partenope is more beautiful than Venus
and if that's a lie, burn me because nothing is more fertile than ash
this ethnicity, these genes don't die
it what runs through my veins
if then I die
land and blood will mix
like the place I came from
where magma with mud mix
and what we have is rank
if you see it, dig
treasure in the heart like the hold of a ship
if you want to understand Naples, here's the keys in your hand and if you enter
it's a heaven and hell, holy and profane, a struggle between Cain and Abel
those who make vows to the saints and those who still ask the Sybil about fate and destiny
a Greek-Latin culture in the confusion between memorable events and inauspicious facts
this mixed people
excited gesture, pasta, class and dynasty
philosophy and poetry
an idea is enough
and Naples destroys and creates
Odyssey
I've seen just places but never one like this
I've known artists who only needed ink to describe this city
to do that you have to live here
only if you see it will you believe in these wonders
the sun running to race the land
screams and racket you won't find even during war
there poor people and street kids out side of these palaces
tapestries inside and clothes hanging from another people, making another flag outside
admiring the treasures from the past
the junk dealer has a jewel and he doesn't know it
it's forgotten
so now open your eyes
tell me, he reflection of my longing
which is the most beautiful of this realm
Naples today, Partenope yesterday
here the air smells of history
and what pleasures in these neighborhoods
you can hear the tone of the dialect
you understand this land by the number of people who have made love
so, at night, I take a stylus and paint this sugared candy that leaves you breathless
and from this wave that washes the banks
and the foam creates
another poem like this odyssey
Accept the jewels and the sorrows
that's the scene
create an idea
that has notoriety
this place is an odyssey
good or bad
the truth and a lie
that's the way it goes
that's the philosophy

la famiglia 1999