Julia Origo: Bad girl & Saints

Julia Origo

(1965 – 2005)

 

Bad girl

Pity those poor Italian men,

out of reach,

(oh, celibacy in despair!)

but they never look sorry

(why?)

I was invisible to the man on the street

I told him that I was really excited

(born one second after midnight

on New Year’s Day)

a self-absorbed, thumb-sucking bad girl,

beware your wildest dreams…

Rain fell like nails upon us,

I seduce his father who flirts with his seatmate

on a long plane flight.

I had always wanted a real man

(always the same face)

as I knew better than to offer him to pay

for he can watch his family from

beyond the grave

(sad news of the death, oh yes,

the theft of childhood and

the dangers to the young, oh yes)

delve deeper into Celebrating Possibility

and an engaging sense

of

pale

naked

PAIN.

It made no difference.

(From: Bad girl, 1985)

Saints

what

happened to Joan

of Arc? who disappeared

during the night maybe you saw

that brief controversy: The Red Death

The Red Death, The Final Blast,

Saint Joan, I remember

at least one

more

time.

(From: Transfusion, 1987)

 

Julia Origo poetry

kempis poetry magazine

More in: Archive O-P, Origo, Julia