SAN FRANCISCO POETS

Rosemary Manno

 

What the Beatniks Saw in North Beach

Like an old Roman road
Grant Avenue
one morning
Panama Canal Ravioli
sheets of dough dry on the marble table
dusted with flour
dusted with life

Wine flows like Roman fountains
downtown is at the other end of the country

Vistas wrap around like summer morning fog
immigrants and bohemians
the lights of Alameda
the bridge to the east
flanked by the bay
and two of the seven hills

We're only in San Francisco
but we see the Trevi Fountain everywhere

                           ~*~


Ode to Michelangelo Park at Twilight

Beyond the west wall
the gold rush ramparts
a night flight twinkles through the fog at dusk

Fire Angel
Rosemary Manno
Magenta Press 2005

Truth has a strange face
it cleanses everything
all traces vanish
as I repent in the hour of prayer
in the hour of praise and beauty
while the old country
on the other side of the ocean
appears like a map in the clouds

Bells peal
large birds arrive on the nearest branch
up the hill in my cathedral

© Rosemary Manno

Rosemary Manno has lived in San Francisco since 1983.   She grew up in Buffalo, New York
and has lived in Paris whenever possible.  Most winters she travels to her beloved Mexico
with artist-musician Roger Strobel. They've shared a home life in North Beach for many years.
She is poet, artist, lover of foreign tongues, the natural world and revolutionary struggle. Her work has
appeared in numerous chapbooks, magazines and anthologies. Her forthcoming collection is entitled Marseille.

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