Mary Ascending

POSTED IN contemporary poetry September 29, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Ascending

Eight couplets for your tale Magdalena
Antognetti, model for the Pilrgim’s Mary,

Infant in your arms, your face in afternoon sun
haloed by whispers: Trysts with Monsignor

Crescenzi, and Cardinal Montalto; shadows
cast by courtesan’s mantle in Corso’s grey hours.

Drowned woman from Tiber risen, so the story’s
told, you return to the living to portray Mary Dead.

Laying your body out, your limbs are washed
with vinegar. But staring at the assembled host

from painted eyes, it’s the countenance of a whore
they recognise, and cover your face with cloth.

Gathered in St Agostini’s floodlit chapel, Nokias
and Leicas now congregate at your feet. Standing tip-toe

at the doorstep, red dress taut against your thigh,
your eyes are upturned, as if you could fly.

 

 

 

 

Gershon Holtz