ARNO’S FIRE

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The swollen Arno overflows, only the wicked river knows

A trail of umber sediment, borrowed nuggets of rose-gold

Beneath the merchants tables, its soft, princely belly gored

The flower of the Medici on laden, merchant-vessels moored

A tale told, a crucible of fire, bonfire of vanities, lust and desire

Firenze sleeps, artisans, courtesans both, purple, plush & bored

A cradle for a renaissance and Arno’s sacred arthouse store

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writtenbyedenbray10.03.2015

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GLOSSARY

Savonarola – Piero and the exile of the Medici: 1492-1494 – bonfire of vanities tuscany

Read more:http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa69#ixzz3TzqJ9YuP

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#Original Authors Note – 22.10.2017 – Abridged by edenbraytoday – I agree I have never been what you might call a rhyming poet or written what you might call poems of form that are open to exegetic or critical poetic analysis. No negative judgement is intended or implied on such poems, many of which I revere. 

I have always tried to write in a more open style of prose. Perhaps ‘with a nod’ to the Beat-style writers & poets of the 60’s/70’s like Kerouac and Ginsberg, where feeling and emotion are more important than form although again all poetry should and must have a ‘form’ to be poetry, despite some of a more anarchic style who might disagree but even their work has a form even if sometimes it is harder to formally decipher..

I myself have suffered the occasional criticism for failings of ‘form’ and in a somewhat futile attempt to silence those critics of my work and address the inner demons who sometimes taunt, I entered a poetic society and whilst there, I entered this particular poem in a competition. It brought me much praise and some literally rave reviews from a few notable American poets who commented that it was and I quote ~ ‘the real thing’, which I admit I did find somewhat gratifying. O and I also received some criticisms – but hey, such is life. I am no longer a member of that society.

I actually like this piece because it seems to me, to meet the criteria of that competition very well and comments on the history of one of the world’s ‘great’ art cities – Florence in northern Italy.. I adore Italia and can’t wait to return and explore it still further.

I include it now as the penultimate selection in my 2nd Retrospective Anthology of Poems, Articles and Essays, out of sincere respect and reverence for Italia and the deaths they have suffered recently from the coronavirus – thank you for reading  ~ edenbraytoday 🇮🇹  🇮🇹

What do you think of my poem by the way? – you are allowed to comment at this stage of the proceedings and in fact I welcome your criticism! ~ Ciou!