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Read Write Novelly
This weeks Read Write Prompt from Christine was to hack apart the end bits of some chapters from a book and use them as the basis for a poem. I picked up a copy of The City of Falling Angels by Jon Berendt, and I won’t mention what words I used because most of them got revised out of the poem. I took a different tack with this poem, and didn’t use first or second person pronouns. I’ll be honest, it feels weird not to use them, I almost want to change the whole thing just so there can be an address, but, I shan’t.
Acqua Alta
Beneath trumpeting angels, a faded
yellow splashing in this spring’s acqua alta,
it’s residents prepared and softly laughing
at the tourists in salt-ruined shoes.
Soon the Palazzo Barbarro will crumble,
sink into the insistent, hypnotic tides,
bastion of terrible beauty, coral reef to be.
City carefully level with the sea. A masterpiece
of engineering’s failure. The opera houses,
and the museums, the cafés and piazzas
laconically gather the last dust blown across the
Mediterranean before it reaches dry land,
idle as tired children catching snowflakes.
The little drowning angels of marble
will blow their trumpets as
Neptune’s kin blow conch shells,
battle for the souls of fishes.
Like the poem, gives me something to think about. I wouldn’t write off Venice just yet though, they said it was sinking in the time of the Crusaders.
Definitely a poem that needs to be read several times. There are many wonderful lines in here!
What lush imagery, style and movement so fluid it seems effortless.
“idle as tired children catching snowflakes.”
A surprising image given the context of the poem. Love it.
Thanks for a quality read.
I used conch in my poem too, but there the similarity ends. Wow, so many images to savor: statues, architecture, tourists, salt-ruined shoes…. I haven’t read the book - is the poem in response to it? I’m thinking so because of the title.
Since I haven’t read the book, I’ll say that the poem sounds like a description of Venice, of decay and demise. I really like it! No pronouns needed. They’d only get in the way.
I had to look up what acqua alta was (so I learned something today!)
I love the image of
“The little drowning angels of marble”
in the
“battle for the souls of fishes.”
With this, you changed my whole perception of that book.
I really enjoyed this poem, I liked your description of your process too, especially the fact that you edited out most of the original words!
“idle as tired children catching snowflakes.”, i can picture this…very impressive piece of writing. Thank you for sharing.