Download - Pompeian Figures
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
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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
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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
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stone on stone on stone I feel at home
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that dialect — behind white walls silence
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those dark windows in cliffside stone houses how everything fits
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there’s a plastic basket of wooden clothespins on the stone sill
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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
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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
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sketching that boat the pencil’s angle a lateen spar
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roman terra cotta ground to powderhis pigment
64
a watercolor bay on the innermost wall the bay below
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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
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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