LA SERENISSIMA
…stucco white as cuttlefish. In shadows,
a lion’s mouth utters advantage or blame.
The whitewashed stench of the prison inspires
the palace. An improbable city:
a wedding of sky, water, stone, lagoon –
colours luminously true to art, art
celebrating business, gold transformed to
lead, marble, canvas, paint. The lake dwellers’
ambition: exploitation and caprice…