Livorno
The communist uprising in Livorno was a serious menace to Italy because that army sent tanks, not big tanks but big enough in narrow streets
At the railway station, I met a small woman with a big
suitcase, I offered to carry it for her; little did I know she lived outside the town; it was a burdensome walk on unlit roads
At the parvenue cafe, I met a woman I had seen before
Short black hair of dubious gender (let them guess)
sat drinking Pernod, smoking a cigarette that had the aroma of oriental express
I must have seen her before. Was it in Monte Carlo?
She beckoned to me to sit at her table
I had a cold beer
and smoked a Chesterfield and my arm was numb carrying the bloody suitcase for a woman who told me she was an actress going to Rome to star in an upcoming movie called
La Strada
years later Kristiansand, a town in Norway, was on a catering course
I saw the film, yeah, it was the woman I had met in Livorno
A sudden blackout that might have been caused by the Reds
the cafe supplied candles, that on a night of uncertainty
made the plaza romantic, the Monte Carlo woman had vanished, like a cigarette ad on the TV screen
Darkened translations emerge from the night.
Fledglings tarnished as they hide from the light.
Parvenue casualties from antiquated sin.
Depraved menage is how it dared begin.
Retribution will one day be poignantly felt.
Severely dispensed, his wrath will be dealt.
No one can hide from their diabolical display
Destruction will find thee and bring your end of day.
December 6, 2020