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Rosemarie
Crisafi
Father's
Tools
He
hammers, drills, saws; files and chisels, armed with drivers,
spirit levels and calipers;
assorted
adjustable jawbones for gripping and twisting. He steers
router, circular and miter
saws.
Heavy-handed at the lathe, lumber and metal takes shape.
Pressing against the grinder, her father
bores
and welds. Knuckles jut, thumbs protrude, round trowels.
A poker stirs the fire. He wrestles
hoes,
rakes, and shears, and bests a long-limbed square-headed
shovel. With one swing of an axe,
opens
a young birch. He tosses away
a short-armed spade like a small girl.
Admiring
Odysseus
He stood
above me
observing my fingers resist his tale
coax linguini into the bowl
drip tomato onto my lap.
At times
I ignored the sirens
as he spoke, my ears plugged with wax
fighting a spell, avoiding
temptation on the rocks
He sat
across from me
yet far away, traveling with Odysseus
as if he could charm the sorceress
with a ladle of his red sauce.
Sometimes,
I am in peril of drowning -
a ship crashes, insensible sailors sink.
With the hero tied tightly to the mast
until the light dies, I hear the song
Grandmother's
Volcano
Ancient
Aetna climbs over Sicily.
On the eastern wall, she bleeds to the coast leaving scrub
and cinders.
The cone shrinks and rises.
Splintered profile visible,
Valle de Bove, bottomless crater, gapes.
>From
the chasm, a city fantasma,
black wisps depart.
A road from the port leads upwards
past Acireale and Nicolosi,
into beech and brushwood.
On higher
slopes, junipers creep
with scaled cones and spiny leaves,
to a wasteland and then iced peaks.
On dust, peasants grew olives,
tomatoes, lentils, and apricots.
Docks
crowded with salt, wine,
oil, tuna and pumice. Ships sailed
with sumac's red furry fruits,
feathery leaves for tanning and dyeing.
The fissure bubbled.
Smoke curled from the summit.
Fumes
stung grandmother's eyes
Ash covered brown curls.
Mouths scarfed, she sealed windows.
Aetna's fit resounded on the boot.
Gas and steam hung changing the weather.
White
sweet-scented flowers grayed.
Oval stoned fruits died.
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