LARA DOLPHIN

Two Characters in Search of the Past: A Memory Poem

THE GRANDFATHER (stalwart, crotchety)
THE GRANDDAUGHTER (naive, reticent)
Daytime. Aboard a ship crossing the Straits of Messina

Spectators will see a young woman and an old man 
sometimes standing, sometimes sitting
in conversation [sometimes annoyed] or in silence
They are visiting the island 
where THE GRANDFATHER was born
Nota Bene: the golden Madonna 
blessing the city and her people

Enter DISTANT RELATIVES in a Fiat
who drive the pair [energetically] 
to points of interest
for days . . . and days
catacombs and cannoli, 
sardines and snails, 
pizza e piazzas 
from Agrigento to Caltanisetta
from Mt. Etna to Palermo
where they enter the cathedral 

THE GRANDFATHER [indicating GRANDDAUGHTER] Vena ca!
to the chapel of Rusulia
protector from plague
At this point, they are both kneeling
THE GRANDFATHER seems spent 
as if consumed by the journey
THE GRANDDAUGHTER [stifles an uncomfortable laugh]
something about when death is on the line
Are a saint’s ashes inside the crypt? 
What is pretense? What is reality?

There is no consensus
so they collect their thoughts 
souvenirs for the passage home
and head out of darkness
into the light 
of the expansive Sicilian sky