La Serenissima: on the way to Dorsoduro

By Jessica Ursell

streaming out of Santa Lucia
the steps of the station 
are slick 
from the soles 
of the souls
newly arrived 
in this watery 
Eden 

collars up 
hoods on
packed tightly 
wind cold and crisp 
washing wavelets 
from the lagoon 

we wait
to board
the Venetian vaporetto 
as it bobs and brushes 
along the dock

"baggage below" 
bellows the boatswain 
in a practiced singsong 
that carries over 
the roaring motor 

leaving our bag
we rush to the railing 
cold rain mingles
with the waves 
spraying us

but we don't care 
it's il giorno di San Valentino
and we see
in the center of the throng 
a middle-aged local woman 
all bundled up 
happily licking 
an ice cream cone

Jessica Ursell lives with her husband in Southern Italy where she writes poetry and essays addressing the complex interplay between trauma, power, love, loss, and madness. Published works include: Mariupol Madonna, Versopolis; Ricotta Cheese English, Mediterranean Poetry; At the Country Club with Superman, and Standing Up for the Voiceless: My Fight with Royalty in Anne Frank’s House, The Jewish Writing Project. Sedimented Rock, and Climbing Vesuvius in Stilettos, Writing In A Woman’s Voice. Jessica’s poem, A Still-Life Collage of Lost Objects, can be found in Down in the Dirt magazine and in the book, The Limits of Language, as well as in the book, Where Icarus Went. Find more of Jessica’s work in Iron Words: Israel War Stories; Ritualwell; and Fellowship & Fairydust.