Rattus Rattus New and Selected Poems

Rattus Rattus Even at midnight the pontiff's window is open, framing the next blessing or admonition. Combing the colonnade late tourists shop for symbols. In the square a thousand chairs pray to a vacant altar. Chesty bells convulse a dozen times. 'Electric', you mutter. Amputees put away their disabilities and dream. Handsome carabinieri erect barriers to Bernini's scheme. Beside each column a metal detector radiates our nothingness. Following the Tiber home, footsore and fascinated, we watch a stupendous rat, bigger than a monstrance, mapping the slimy historic bank.Rose, Peter is the author of 'Rattus Rattus New and Selected Poems', published 2005 under ISBN 9781844710690 and ISBN 1844710696.