in-the-uncontaminated-fluent by Tiziana Rasile

   

 

Stand

 

oh my gorgeous
I’ll be faithful

till the last day
the gods build

my body out of air
till the last time

they let me sleep
in hammocks of clouds

till my aches
and dreams stop

flowing over winter
till I run out of—

 

 

 

 

Bequest

 

What is my portion?
Can water be divided?
Can the precious emerald ring

be given to just one of us?
A leopardess lies down
on my chest, licks me

with a tongue cold as marble.
Can water be divided?
Gone stratagems,

gone conciliatory themes.
Where’s the meridian
in this endless argument?

 

 

 

 

Icy

 

My sandals in shallow snow.
Mount Wachusett white
in the distance, and this morning
a bald eagle glides by,
feathered sultan.

Cold feet in spiked grass,
wide landscape of birches,
frozen purgatory, the sting of sleet
far from heaven, above
the slack drowsy fish
in the Nashua River, and trucks
spattering down Route 117,
driving from where to where.

A stream of headlights cuts
in front of the mountain
as a silver sky tarnishes.

 

 

 

 

Carnival of the Animals

 

1. Birds’ Eggs:

some are made of wood    others
of chocolate    some will sustain
you when starving   some are covered
in rubies    others unbreakable
some make you wish for a child
some are piercing sky blue    others
make you think of stones    some suggest
dinosaur bones    some are broken
out of reach    some mottled ones
lie on the beach    others in the nest alone

 

2. Black Bull/House
–after a painting by Keith Etter

he’s a black bull/house
a roofed quadruped
under a bullseye sun
he floats above the ground
tail curved like a pig’s
antennae tipped in red
the sky is smudged rust
his eye flat and round
his single ear like a leaf
legs tiny and thin
the roof of his back
impervious to water
there is no horizon
just bullseye bullseye bullseye
smudged rust and himself
the black bull/house

 

3. Mollusks

The mollusks will filter out the mess. Then we’ll eat them.

 

4. The Baby Jesus, Surrounded by Animals:
Four Commemorative Stamps from Benin, 1976

For 50 Francs, the angel comes to Mary,
sitting under a hovering dove, a long
ribbon of Latin streaming from her hand.

For 60 Francs, a green parrot
perches above Joseph’s bald head.

For 300 Francs, the Holy Family takes flight
on an ass into a mountainous Egypt.

For 370 Francs, crowds come
on horseback to worship
the naked baby, his hand in Holy Water.

 

5. Clouds:

Protean, they morph from dogs to doorknobs.

 

6. The Lioness

Along the violet,
cyclopean walls
down by the jetty,
sunflowers droop.

I cannot meditate
safely in this
countervailing wind.

The lioness
in my kitchen-garden
salts the zinnias
with her purgatorial glare,
all sisterly affection gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the author:

Cammy Thomas’ most recent book is Odysseus’ Daughter (Parkman Press, 2023), poems in response to the Odyssey. She has three full-length poetry collections published by Four Way Books. Cathedral of Wish received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. Tremors received 2022 Poetry Honors from the Mass Book Awards. A fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation helped her complete Inscriptions. Her poem, “Far Past War,” was set to music by her sister, composer Augusta Read Thomas, and premiered with the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington DC in 2022. She teaches literature to adults, and lives near Boston.

 

In the artist’s words:

Tiziana Rasile was born in Rome where she lives and works. She completed the course of study at the Academy of Fine Arts, specializing in Painting. She graduated in “Museum Merchandising” and for a year she dedicated herself to the study of the Restoration of Ancient Paintings. During her career she participated in numerous events and won several international awards. Her research explores light, through overlays of soft chromatic textures and focuses on the possibility of creating a dialogue between scientific and philosophical realities, spiritual and artistic insights. Her journey begins with the “FAIDS” Colletion, where the shape is dematerialized in color, to other collections such as “LACONIC TIME” and “VIBRATIONS”: the light that vibrates in the image space and modulates time.

“My work seeks for light through chromatic vibrations where the being appears in its ancestral essence. I believe in an art that embraces infinity points of view. A brushstroke can be an electron that vibrates, a sound wave, a rhythm of light, water and air together. The time where life flows, simplify the soul in search of the uncontaminated…” 

The artist wrote in the personal column “Dimensioni d’Arte” for Foressego Art International and her artworks are published in many foreign periods of the sector. She is represented by Laura.I Gallery in London. tizianarasile.com