Reading Matters

Cherry

By luigi_pagano

Sun, 13 Dec 2020
  • 755 reads
4 comments
 
I feel dispirited
by the current epidemic.
Chin up, I am told
but it's academic.
 
I need some bright reading
to forget about Covid,
so I ignore for the moment
Sophocles and Ovid.
 
I considered a book
called I Promessi Sposi , ***
a Christmas present
from my Auntie Rosie.
 
It's purported to be a story
not of killers or gangsters
but of the troubled love
of two Italian youngsters.
 
Then, lo and behold,
the novel is not vague
in describing the events
of the Great Milan plague.
 
It was a literary device
that the author employed
but it was just the topic
that I'd wished to avoid.
 
It had been a page-turner
and the writing was splendid
but at the mention of pestilence
my interest soon faded.
 
It was now time to switch
to a more contrasting style
and find some narrative
that could produce a smile.
 
Bertie Wooster and Jeeves,
of whom Wodehouse wrote,
to this venomous virus
are the right antidote.
 
© Luigi Pagano 2020
 
*** The Betrothed
Certificate U
Poem
Mutevoli pensieri
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

That is a brilliant choice Luigi! I can't think of a better one!

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

I am so pleased to hear that this poem resonates with you, Claudine, and seeing those bright red cherries helps to dispel the winter blues. Thank you and many wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Luigi x

 

 

Submitted by marandina on

Interesting take on current events. I wasn't aware of the Milan Plague.

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Quite understandable, Paul, It happened before our time in 1630. I wasn't aware either until I read that novel.

Cheers, Luigi