Poet Gary Lawless, from Maine, USA, has a deep and enduring love for Italy and Venice which is reflected in his work, much of which has been published in translation in Italy, where Gary has visited frequently and presented his poetry. He was also recently an artist-in-residence at the Emily Harvey Foundation in Venice. YtaliGlobal is very pleased to present these poems about Venice, part of a group of Poems for Italy that Gary has very kindly shared with us.
Everything is Holy.
Bless the Lagoon, sweet Saint Lucy.
Bless the birds, the fish,
Bless the trees on the outer islands,
Bless the waves and the wind.
Send the cruise ships to Hell.
There is room there
For one more boat.
Fish Market Prayer – Rialto – Venice
May we be blessed by
the Spirits of these fish
swimming through our world
from the world above
from the world below
rising from the depths of our future
blessing the depths of our past
Lagoon, Venice
Where the outer islands meet
The sea, walls of white
Istrian stone, dunes, grasses, and oak –
Migration routes for
Thousands of years –
Kentish terns and plovers now
Disappearing, places taken by
Kingfisher, herring gull, black-backed gull,
All these coots, ducks, heron, and geese,
Sparrow hawk, osprey, kite –
What follows when we
Are gone,
Forever
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