AIDS Researchers on a Break, 1993
by Sam Friedman
As the River Adige
foams madly under the bridge
to the Castelvecchio,
the murder-holes of the old brick fort
grin evil in the city lights,
reminiscing of ancient carnage.
Lovers and flirters now stroll
where the archers and gunners once stood.
The evening silence subverts ancient tumults,
and spider webs glitter faint symmetries on the gates
to by-gone hatreds,
while the books of the Verona public library
stand like a regiment in review
on the shelves within the bricks
of a murder machine grown passé.
In the city without, needles glitter
as heroin seeks its veins,
and the manufactories of wines, shoes, and chemicals echo
the ancient hatreds
with those of a modern age,
class against class,
or those of anger diverted.
Immigrant scapegoats sell sex in the streets of the evening,
as local professionals glare fury
at their low-price, no-condom competition,
and the old fort chuckles anew
at a distant scent
of future employment.
volume 10(6)
This poem is copyright © 2006,
Sam Friedman, all rights reserved.
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