Memorial of June 2025

On the Rialto Bridge I notice a girl 

in a light linen dress, 

fluttering like a truce flag  

in the hot summer breeze. 

Her large brown eyes gaze down 

at dynamic gondoliers in uniform 

selling rides down the Grand Canal 

for the price of a fix of dust. 

Behind me, young people draped in keffiyehs 

march, waving colorful banners, 

wishing to launch a U.S. Oligarch into space--  not

only, but mostly for his wedding,  which privatizes our public space. 

Their many chants blur the message, but at least I

admire the rhythm of their steps. I move aside to let

them pass. 

Monochrome neoprene Birkenstocks

now spill over the memorial plaque

thanking another rich man,  

who laundered money and advertising 

as a Machiavellian so-called charity.