Oh Mia Patria Sì Bella e Perduta
— Nabucco
What can he say? His mom loved
Mussolini, not only as a girl,
but when she died at ninety-two.
Did she romanticize her Fascist gioventú?
Was she ecstatic about Addis Ababa?
Vincenzo says she was hungry.
Il Duce put pane on her plate,
carne in her pan. Amore,
your country, too…Vincenzo
argues as Verdi’s chorus sings
of a homeland. Shhh, I say,
zitto. He understands, has pietà.
It happens at all! he smiles,
meaning all empires fall.
*
Hilary Sideris is the author of Un Amore Veloce (Kelsay Books 2019), The Silent B (Dos Madres Press 2019), Animals in English (Dos Madres Press 2020), and Liberty Laundry (Dos Madres Press 2022.) Her new collection, Calliope, is forthcoming from Broadstone Books. Sideris works as a professional developer for CUNY Start, a program for underserved, limited-income students at The City University of New York. She can be found online at hilarysiderispoetry.com
