pompeian figures

John Martone

samuddo / ocean
2016

pompeian figures

copyright 2016 by John Martone

samuddo / ocean
isbn: 978-1-365-08784-4
johnmartone@gmail.com
link for a print copy of this book

pompeian figures

autumn
I wind scarf halfway
around the world

at cumae
the afterlife
a photograph

avernus
people with gardens
theres nothing to living
right above hades

I build a stone wall for the sun to knock down

for the gardener

in autumn a book
about ruins

10

night deepens
a table of
irregular verbs

11

everyone comes
to paint this bay
everyone dies

12

scugnizzi
in sight of vesuvius
parallel play

13

presepe
living underground
he builds nativity scenes
the straw is straw

14

understanding
the language at last you come
to a pawnshop

15

big winter coat

talks to himself
they come for him

16

the old men

playing bocce
you doze off

17

you speak differently after vesuvius

18

that camouflaged
lizard on vesuvius
imprinted in you

19

a handful of pebbles
from vesuvius since
you cant say a thing

20

a human shape
you pocket a root
on vesuvius

21

coins for that woman

huddled on a church step
outside pompeii

22

at pompeii
youve lain on your side
curled-up like him
in the ash

23

no one looking
modern pick-&-shovel man
lifts a roman stone

24

a cameo master
cuts into shell at pompeii
we all fit in

25

that married couple

from pompeii they see through you
and write it down

26

at paestum
unearthed the divers
sarcophagus forever
now floating in space

27

2000 years
a curved stone bench remember
or not be seated

28

hera
this pomegranates
a handful of myth

29

cutting into this

pomegranate under the pines
look whos home

30

the pomegranate
cut open everyone
is nameless

31

so much life at 85
knocking olives from
his grandfathers trees

32

knocking down olives

sleeves rolled up no wedding ring
no wristwatch

33

forgetting to change your shoes

you take the shovel
go out in good ones

34

standing before this

three-century olive tree
you copy it

35

bright day
a cloth for
this table

36

massa lubrense
a place to drink & smoke
above the boats
below the mountains

37

for this wool cap

& this pecorino
thanks

38

come to the sea

after the ruins
a doric squall

39

those blue glass globes

for fishing nets back then
floats up

40

dozen names
on a mountain path mailbox
word enough

41

the curved wall follows

a narrow via somewhere
you squeeze through

42

shoulder-wide
eye-shape cave
a shrine!

43

in this narrow street

an ancient lamp
ripens at last

44

stone on stone
on stone I feel
at home

45

that dialect
behind white walls
silence

46

those dark windows

in cliffside stone houses
how everything fits

47

theres a plastic basket

of wooden clothespins
on the stone sill

48

you change the sheets

as if this were
some distant land

49

old age sickness death

stone houses float from these cliffs
shutters flung open

50

lemon trees
below your balcony
that mandala

51

after pneumonia
sore ribs go for a stroll
in the garden

52

childhood prayer
holy mary
mother of god
inside you

53

water buffalo
looks at me
who cant explain

54

a maritime pine
leans from a cliff edge
shade plummeting

55

in that dream you hear

waves crash below youve got
a brass whistle

56

rain in campania
tonight you almost
make out the words

57

so many
goodbyes now
the rain stops

58

after that rain

the eaves keep dripping
the pine holds on

59

villa on the bay

impressionist trees & sky
you cant read his name

60

giacintos canvas
the back of your eye those flecks
of white light are sails

61

sketching that boat

the pencils angle
a lateen spar

62

roman terra cotta

ground to powder
his pigment

63

a watercolor bay
on the innermost wall
the bay below

64

crushed olive leaf

to paint a watercolor
olive tree

65

the wind gets into

the pines you didnt know
the god took such space

66

when the wind lets up

those pines still bend form gone in
& you take root

67

the jade plants

a succulent
you sketch it

68

all that light

the fig tree leafs out
in an old mans room

69

time-lapse
you take a day to watch this
fig leaf open

70

nets for olives

& fishnets from small boats
mending this world

71

pine nuts
numbers are
mystical

72

winter sun
on the table
breakfast

73

human life
a little bit divine
a little while

74

naples, castel nuovo

you find what you came for
giottos fisherman
mends his net

75

roofs bright with frost

water put on to boil
a verse from shakyamuni

76

sanctus andreas, amalfi

this vertigo saints
in every direction
you kneel before X

77

up 9 stone steps
wrought-iron gate & potted plant
this century

78

madonna dellidria
o girl carved of wood
& wooden child all one tree
a bell keeps tolling

79