Five Poems by John Raffetto

 

BLIND WALLS OF TWISTED LOVE

I met Dante and Beatrice for an expresso

at Café Paradiso.

My unrequited desire was immense

as we talked past midnight

while the waning moon overhead softened our prudence

and tempered my hopelessness of the erratic spheres.

Faith and fortitude shook my ascent

as a mandolin strummed in the piazza echoing off

blind walls of twisted love.

The wheel turns at a single speed

justified by charity and clarity of the stars.

The soul.

Wise force.

The sheer comedy of the night that merges into

Empyrean light.

 

 

NOCTURNAL  FEVER

The coyotes prowl in the city park

after the people leave.

Their green eyes illuminate the darkness

searching for a stray

a loner left behind.

The people are sleep yet the coyotes roam.

The streetlights reflect jagged shadows

under an immense moon obscured by clouds,

as cottonwood trees

convey a lurking of nocturnal fever

breaking before daylight and fading in the pale blue moon

FIREFLY NIGHT

Alone in dusky forest

as fireflies

cover my face

flashing like a yellow construction sign.

 

Splintered hickory bark

hangs from my arms,

poison ivy tendrils

climb around my bare legs,

a rash decision

to hop a boxcar

in the middle of the night

heading to Montana

alone with homeless men

eating dented cans of beans

huddled around the torn soul.

 

At the Oregon junction

I unfasten the coupling hitch

from the remainder of the train

and roll downhill toward

topaz mountains of craggy

Pacific shore,

coming to a

rolling stop

past darkness

as fireflies vanish.

 

PLANET

Earth's craters

behind blinders of Anthropocene era-

a lifeless twilight of inferno breezes

as glaciers backslide

on parched cosmic soils

a tormented asteroid lingers

upon beaches of plankton seas.

A fossil chain of recycled hydrogen

facing an icy dilemma into

dim distant sun

of ammonia sky and cathartic ocean,

a solitary buzzard with frozen wings

circles the equator following winds

blinded by evolutionary frost that

awaits human language

after the sixth extinction.

 

MOTIVES

While wandering the sewers of Paris under Rue Montmartre,

pondering a surreal painting by de Chirico, while sipping anisette-

I spotted Edith Piaf singing La Vie en Rose which echoed into the night tunnels.

She was attempting to find an exit for some fresh air

waving me to join her, we climbed onto the street and found a café.

She demanded another anisette while speaking of Yves Montand and his exile from Tuscany.

Patrons recognized her and wondered why the little sparrow was with me,

perhaps a tryst or just another ragged poet trying to convince the world

of his prophesy.

Edith ignored the people and looked deeply in my eyes

considering my motives,

while I considered hers in boneless light.

JOHN RAFFETTO 

A lifelong resident of Chicago.Some of his poetry has been published in print and various online magazine such as Gloom Cupboard, Wilderness House, BlazeVox, Literary Orphans, Arial Chart, Olentangy Review & Exact Change. Nominated for Pushcart Prize 2017. His book Human Botany was released in 2020.  Holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Northeastern Illinois University. Worked as a horticulturalist and landscape designer for many years at the Chicago Park District which was a rich environment for drawing inspiration for poems concerning nature, people and the city. Formally an adjunct professor.