Circus Maximus

David Starkey is the former Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, California, and Director of the Creative Writing program at Santa Barbara City College. Among his poetry collections are Adventures of the Minor Poet (Artamo Press, 2007), Ways of Being Dead: New and Selected Poems (Artamo, 2006), David Starkey's Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2002), and A Few Things You Should Know About the Weasel (Biblioasis, 2010). A senior Fulbright scholar and six-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, Starkey is also the author of Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief.

I. Pinacoteca
The Son of Man in the Picture Gallery 7
Judith and Holofernes 9
The Deluge 10
Madonna and Saint Anne 11
Nativity 12
The Ugliest Jesus in the History of Western Art 13
The Baptism of Christ 14
Deposition 15
The Calling of Saint Matthew 16
Allegory of the Discovery of America 17
AVisit to the Vatican Museums 18
i. In the Gallery of Maps
ii. Sistine Chapel, July
iii. Uscita
The Question of Temporality in Renaissance Painting 21
Ecstasy 22

II. Votivo
The Son of Man Goes to Church 24
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa 25
A Primer on Sculpting Pietàs 26
The Triumph of Faith Over Heresy 27
Nuns in Rome 28
Wax Monk in a Glass Box 29
San Callisto 27
Figure on a Marble Sarcophagus 31
In the Capuchin Crypt 32
A Wedding in Santa Maria in Aracoeli 33
Blurry Nighttime Photograph of Saint Peter’s Cathedral 34
At the Beatification of Pope John Paul II 35
Pasquetta 36
Tuesday Afternoon Mass in the Capella Paolina 37
Votive 38

III. Circo Massimo
The Son of Man, Peripatetic 40
Palely Loitering 41
Il Cimetero Acattolico di Roma 42
The Italian Man of Letters 43
Ora di Punta 45
Beneath the Ponte Umberto I 46
Tre Osservazioni 47
1. The Consequences of Being Late in Italy
2. Reading The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in a Café on the Via
Belsiana
3. To the Birds on Lungotevere dei Mellini Trying to Sing Above the Traffic Noise
To the Sycamore Trees Along the Tiber 48
Tiber Stairs 49
The Garbagemen of Rome 50
Fontana di Quattro Fiumi 51
The Rape of Proserpine 52
Spring Comes to Rome 53
Thunderstorm, Piazza Navona 54
Circus Maximus 55

Coda: Le Porte di Corno e Avorio
The Gates of Horn and Ivory 57