Mussolini's Umbrella
For now the umbrella
will be banned from the house
as a traitor to rugged
complexions. Ombrello -
little shadow; too cute,
mused Il Duce, amid
this century's downpour
of bullets. It rises
abruptly as the national debt
and parades street to street
as a weakness. Let there be
hailstorms, heat, thunder
like jackboots striding
terrible skies; let
them bravely flush out
from cupboard or carboot
this conspicuous wretch
which given speech and
a dig in the ribs might confess
his dandy cheek is the
similitude of a rose
or a peach. Exile
this pansy to wasteland
or the muteness of moves;
seek it if it's stalled
in the cavernous hallway
like a tropical bat -
for it is the downfall
of national weather
and shelters a shadow
where there should be a lout.
(from ALBUM OF DOMESTIC EXILES, Black Pepper, Melbourne, Australia
1997)
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