Giulietta degli Spiriti

[just mercedes]

GIULIETTA DEGLI SPIRITI

1
Leaving my philandering husband Giorgio, I quickly set out
to make a mistress of myself to Sangria -- this line sounds a little clunky
that is to say, as I boarded Jose's rickety boat
to Spain, I got myself two 'myself's in such a short stanza stand out
roaring drunk. I really like this line break

2
Who rides a boat to Spain?
Me and Gabriella took the train -- I wonder if you can make the two voices appear different - one in italics maybe?

3
Sometimes I wonder if I'm really still Giulietta,
as I sit up smoking after love. I don't know why, but these two lines, inverted, sound stronger; also Guiliette/Giorgina line up

4
Me? I know I'm no longer Giorgio -- now, you call me Giorgina.
One night, after love,
I dreamed my sex was being pulled off of me bloodlessly,
like a stub of tallow stuck awkwardly between the legs. Great imagery!
That was the only change. Yet still, you and all others
acted as if I were finally complete,
as if I were your sister, fulfilling your dream
of a thirst quenched.

5
The first thing we did once we reached Barcelona
was visit that famous unfinished cathedral, packed with information, but no poetry
Sagrada Familia. The name alone
made me shed a tear,
although I remember
it was not one for sadness.

6
That business trip I took -- I actually flew Gabriella
all the way to Hong Kong for a painting. is 'for' the best word here?
"Interior d'un Cafi". I told her seeing Paris
captured through the eyes of a complete stranger, I like the 'capture' tied to revolutionary
a revolutionary
who fought against Spain's stranglehold
over his country,
was better than actually going there. I love the convoluted travel in this stanza, and the reasoning

7
I told Jose, I did not want to live by the sea again.
But he refused, insisting the salt there was no request to refuse
would help clear my lungs. That was my problem,
he said, becoming breathless
over every little thing.

8
In fact, my plan was
to go to Tunisia -- she complained
with your voice, when she learned.
Why take the long way? she asked.
Why not go by boat?
I said I wanted to retrace the steps 
of our ancestors the Romans, reenact the farce
of the Punic Wars, eventually
of Aeneas leaving Dido. I can see the smoke as Aeneas realizes he has killed her

9
Leaving you, I thought the spirits
would stop haunting me. Didn't I conquer them,
if not in this world of phenomena
then in the world of my memories,
your films? But they returned
one night, after love. I like this return to the 'petit mort' motif
Neptune again rose from the sea,
again brought with him his great barge
of decay --

10
Then Venus appears next, in her golden veil this moment, of a God in the present, stands out - signifying that love endures?
and tight bikini -- then Bacchus the young god
with the girlish black hair and the over-shaven face
and the white breasted raiment that in your memories
still didn't distract from his sex -- then Pluto
or maybe Saturn burning your favorite doll --
then Jupiter your grandfather the lord of the heavens
flying through the mists to his
mistress Parisienne -- then what again?
Now I don't remember. That story you told me,
explaining why you were so breathless
after your brief visit to the neighbor's,
I wasn't really listening. This captures for me the lack of understanding and communication between the two voices

I don't know the movie, but I know some of Fellini's works, and I appreciate how you've managed to incorporate his lusty down-to-earth humanity with the 'genius of place' of the Gods and the surreal images of these protagonists' thoughts. Your poem gives me more each time I read it - thank you for posting this!