Alone in Verona
I love you but did not invite you here.
I chose to come here alone
with only impressions of us,
inner pictures that win out
over the star-crossed real.
In my mind are unseen frescoes,
emotion ground fine
into the plaster of thought—
burnt umber, blue, ochre of rose.
I love you but did not invite you here.
Why do I insist on this dizzying dream?
This lonely dizzying dream—
footpaths made of pink marble
scents of espresso & leather
the ancient ringing of bells
the iron lantern of exile
robed statues watching the dead
the dead cut out into little stars
speaking to everyone everywhere here
*
Julia Caroline Knowlton MFA PhD is Professor of French at Agnes Scott College, where she also teaches creative writing. The author of five books, she is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets College Prize and a 2018 Georgia Author of the Year award. She regularly publishes her poems in journals such as thimble, One Art, and Rust & Moth. One of her poems will be publicly installed outdoors in 2022 as a part of the GA Poetry in the Parks project.
