Well, I have shingles. Herpes zoster. No fun, and painful. I like the Italian name for it better – more poetical. Fire of Saint Anthony. Depictions of Saint Anthony in Tuscany and Umbria often have a small belted pig at the friar’s feet. They were permitted to raise pigs since the fat was used forContinue reading “The Latest”
Author Archives: Erika Bizzarri
Night – August 9-10
Night may not bring sleep but it does leave the mind open to thoughts. Here are three: One It’s night again. She cannot sleep. She reaches for one of the books on the left side of the bed where there should have been a companion in living flesh and blood but whose place has longContinue reading “Night – August 9-10”
Past remains Present
The tree – that proud elm by the railroad tracks – is gone. The little girl trudging along the snowy road to catch the school bus waiting for her along the main street next to the park, is gone. The house that has stood up above for over a hundred years, adding one room atContinue reading “Past remains Present”
Eulogy for my Books
Over sixty years ago I first touched European soil and stayed for almost a year. Afteranother spell in the US, I crossed the ocean once more, this time to remain in Italywhere I have now been for over sixty, or perhaps seventy, years. My occupationshave varied, from having a shop to teaching English to translating.Continue reading “Eulogy for my Books”
Letter from Mario
How fortunate I am to have lived (and continue to live) in an era where the written word still leaves its mark. We leave – we are gone. We leave this, or that, we leave a comment or a drawing. We leave our words (an extension of our voice) to fend for themselves for as longContinue reading “Letter from Mario”
Food
Memories and the food we eat define who and what we are. A life in food. When I was eight it was hot oatmeal, sugar and milk. In a kitchen on a farm. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches eaten on the run to school along a snowy country road. At ten it was cabbage boiledContinue reading “Food”
Orvieto People
Orvieto is of course its people. Orvieto is … well Orvieto. Not just the streets and the buildings but Orvieto is its people. There are those we encounter every day when we move into the center of town. Coming up from the parking lot down below, there’s the young man in the shop before oneContinue reading “Orvieto People”
Brief Encounters
I was at the coffee bar and had just settled down for my morning coffee when I noticed a young man seated at the table by the door. He couldn’t have been more than twenty with a mop of curly hair and smooth chubby cheeks. And he was big. After exchanging good morning greetings, heContinue reading “Brief Encounters”
Fleeting Memories
July, summer has set in it all its heat. I lie motionless in bed hoping to cool off. My hands and arms finally feel cold. Eyes closed, I let my mind wander and find myself in Jerusalem or Nazareth. Forty years ago. I have risen early. The American students I am chaperoning are still asleep. All butContinue reading “Fleeting Memories”
Dream
Last night I had a vision. The city, once Urbs Vetus, Now Orvieto, Was rooted in the cliff On which it stood. Houses, streets, lanes, piazzas Were all sprouting from the tufa cliff, Like weeds Or flowers of the field That last but a day. Only here and there A few tap roots reached downContinue reading “Dream”
Usual Musings
It must be one or two in the morning. I lie in bed and have pulled the blankets, really only one, up to my shoulders. And there in that triangle of sky at the top of a shaft between the shutters through which light can filter, I sometimes see, – from where I lie – theContinue reading “Usual Musings”
A Yellow Butterfly
As usual I was hunting for a book. A slender booklet. And there was this story of a yellow butterfly. Pont-Aven. A seaside town in the Brittany region of France, the haunt of artists such as Gaugin. But what I wanted to find was a brief essay where a saffron yellow butterfly was the leadingContinue reading “A Yellow Butterfly”
Through the Lens of Time
Letters written months, years ago, are still there on my computer. I see them now through the lens of time. Many I wrote, others are by friends or acquaintances. Mine are sort of like a diary, capturing my thoughts on a particular day. Curiously I find my thoughts then and now haven’t changed all thatContinue reading “Through the Lens of Time”
Reading versus Speaking
I have an Italian friend intent on learning new languages, in particular English. So, when we have a few minutes, we take out an English book and he reads a few pages aloud, marking words or phrases that are new to him, particularly those he feels he can use. There are some of course I warnContinue reading “Reading versus Speaking”
All is Well
I’m fine. Dear Friends Just to reassure you. I’m fine (although one can’t help but think about the future occasionally). Have no intention of dissolving in thin air yet, too many books I still want to read, too many old friends I want to share ideas with, too many new friends I hope to make.Continue reading “All is Well”
How long?
The end is drawing near. How long? A year? Or three or four? Or less or more? Then, if I could, I would wander up some lane, onto a sunlit terrace, or float out over the patchwork of green fields in the valley, and dissolve, disappear into the ether. How do I wish to beContinue reading “How long?”
Moral Dilemma
A term I was unacquainted with. Is it perhaps too philosophical for me? Makes sense though when I figured out what it meant. So you have a house, a really old building with which you have fallen in love . It’s lovely but obviously needs to be seen to, needs repair, needs love. And nextContinue reading “Moral Dilemma”
Now I See You
Now you see me Now you don’t Does that mean you no longer exist? Not only could I see, but I could also touch and hear you. Then when you turned the corner you were no longer there. Or if you were there, you were invisible. Is that any different from the tree I seeContinue reading “Now I See You”
Lion
Lion on my windowsillwhat are you looking at,what are you thinking. Silently you watch memove through the room. Yesterdayyou looked outwardson the age-old chestnutdown by the gate,on the ladder restingagainst the wallto one side of the window,on the lilac bushhalfway down the slopealready weighted downwith fragrant purple clusters.My Ukrainian helperasked permissionto cut a branch forContinue reading “Lion”
Now
Yesterday…tomorrow.Before…after.Now.Suddenlyspring has given way to summer.In town legs and arms are bare,offering mosquitoes and no see’umsa banqueting table. In the country night creeps up,making way for thoughts.How rare just to sit,let oneself merge with the night,stop thinking of anything but the now.To stop thinking. And be aware of sounds,of shades of darkness, of touch, ofContinue reading “Now”
Erika Bizzarri 