Andrea Piccinelli's Poem


 Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 2, Number 2. November 2019. ISSN: 2581-7094




Opera del Duomo 

The majestic tiled front facades divided into three parts by pilaster strips
that suggest the inner space. The plastic and chromatic animation
of spiral pillars, in addition to mullioned windows and hanging arches - the porch
with lion supports, the re-used materials, metopes, pediments and cusps.

Wandering here and there - among sinopias and Saints with grim eyes,
Pantocrators, altarpieces depicting brutally murdered martyrs,
phytomorphic mouldings, animal protomes, strips, spirals, lozenges,
marble plinths, epigraphes, Triumphant Crucifix -
exhales the wisdom hidden by the buttresses, the calculated division of labor
and, sine nomine, the indigenous pieceworkers or
the craftsmen come from far-flung lands
suspended in the void between collapses, creaking of winches, timber beams
and heavy sandstone blocks

applying mortar, building pillars, cutting stones, carrying beams,
casting new bells, grabbing drills, constructing walls to erect,
ad perpetuam rei memoriam,
the miscellaneous sediments of collective genius.