Sometimes I smile (15): This Holy Shrine

This Holy Shrine
We are not pilgrims. Our feet ache, tempers
stumble in the Venetian heat. We seek
some shade in a street café, mouths struggling
with our own stubbed silence. Beneath the sign
Tera Farsetti, strangers’ sandals push
shadows along the crazy paving, home
ground many thousand miles away from this
noon sun on lizard skin. Pouring water,
the clink of my bracelet’s love heart on glass
breaks our glazed dumbness. I miss the boys,
he says. And there it is, our flesh union.
He rests one hand on mine. Its thin gold glints.

“We are not pilgrims. Our feet ache, tempers
stumble in the Venetian heat. We seek…”

Once we were close, then we got closer.

This poem was inspired by a trip to Venice with my husband, our first foreign holiday for just the two of us since our children were born. Inevitably, over a decade filled with nappies, weaning, and parenting early teenage angst, a relationship changes. Setting years of marriage against the honeymoon destination of Venice, and young love’s Romeo and Juliet (those pilgrim palms), this was always going to be a poem of contrasts. But how else does one know how far one has come without placing the journey in the context of its starting point?

For me, nothing in life is so certain that it can safely be taken for granted, not even the longest-standing relationship. Each day, we are in some way foreigners – exploring each other’s geography and mindscapes.

But life and love aren’t just about the things in common, the things enjoyed, the pleasures shared. Perhaps the things that bind us bind as strongly, if not more strongly, are the trials and tribulations survived together.

Discussion Point

Is it obvious that this 12-line poem was once a sonnet, with its concluding couplet then removed? What are the dangers of ending a poem with a concluding or summarising couplet? How would you choose to end this poem?

Writing Prompt

Think about a memorable holiday. Write a summarising or concluding couplet that encapsulates the holiday as a whole. Now use this as the starting point for a poem or story with more details, narrative, characterisation etc, focussing in a specific part or aspect of the trip if necessary. When you’ve finished, consider whether you need the couplet at the end or as part of the title. Or can you get rid of it all together?

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‘Sometimes I smile’ is a Substack series combining individual poems from my collection plenty-fish (Nine Arches Press, 2015) with a ‘poem biography’ about it, including points for potential reader discussion and writers’ prompts.

(NB The book version of Sometimes I smile that is available on Amazon doesn’t include copies of the actual poems, just the biography, photo and prompt elements.)