Auckland Poetry

Fontana Della Api
(The fountain of Bees)

At the corner of Piazza Barberini and Via Vittorio Veneto
I stood waiting for someone who did show up, it was
a warm September day, it had rained in the morning making
the air aromatic, but sensed I had fallen from grace, it was
time to leave Rome.

A horse, whose owner had gone into a bar for a fried sardine
and a glass red of wine came, pulling a cart, to drink water
off the well, when it had had enough I tried to let it drink some
more as it might be hours before it got another drink of water,
but the horse stubbornly refused, ate my flowers instead;
I led the horse back to the bar, but now it was facing the other
way, would the owner notice?

The horse didn’t know nor did I before reading about it in
a guide book that the fountain had been transferred from
the Via Sistina in 1644 (the book didn’t say why) and again
old Bernini had had a hand in its design

Fontana Sulle Piazza
(Fountain in a square)

At the edge of Piazza di Campo dei Fiori there was
a fruit stall in august 1961, perhaps it is still there.
I bought a banana and a couple of tomatoes and sat
by the cooling sound of the late renaissance spring
eating the fruit, which where I came from was only
available at Christmas. Formed as a soup terrine
the fountain had plenty of water and I made mental
note that if the evening was too hot I could go have
a dip there when the piazza was empty of people; as
for now a naked man who isn’t a statue would cause
some disquiet. I carried the tomatoes in a paper bag
the rest the day and most of the night, forgot them at
Fonte del Tritone at the Piazza Barberini 1637 (where
I cooled off in its water, but modestly fully dressed)
A triton supported by dolphins symbolizing harmony
and proclaiming Barberinis’s fame, but yet again old
Bernini had constructed the fountain.

Fontana Del Nettuno
The fountain of Neptune

At the northern end of the Plaza Navona, Neptune
is fighting an octopus, his white sea-horse has flaring
nostrils and is ready to jump onto the plaza, this
muscular drama is unnoticed by the boy who has
jumped into the spring to pick up something floating
there, his mother calls him back he has a new shirt on,
like a boy should worry about that.

I met Neptune once on a winter beach in the Algarve,
waist deep in water he stood, old and cold while
mermaids sat on stones knitting him a pullover made
of seaweed and since he was hard of hearing made,
fun of his enormous belly.

The plaza is full of local people, this Sunday afternoon
a warm July afternoon 1961; ancestors of Antonio Della
Bitta and Gregorio Zappalà who made the sculptures
way back in 1590.

Fontana Nelle Via Romana

There is a fountain in the Via del Babuino,
guarded by a naked stone-man so old now
that his face is disappearing by the dust of
time; you can see he’s mad and ignored by
the women who come hear to get buckets
of soft water for washing their hair.

The stone-man has to endure this ignominy,
but his consolation is that he will guard
this street fountain after the women have
gone to their graves, what’s left of them is
an image on a photo in a black frame, thrown
into a worm eaten chest on the attic.