Circus Maximus (eBook)

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 22II. 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 Peterâs Cathedral 34 At the Beatification of Pope John Paul II 35 Pasquetta 36 Tuesday Afternoon Mass in the Capella Paolina 37 Votive 38III. 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 55Coda: Le Porte di Corno e Avorio The Gates of Horn and Ivory 57