Elegy to Cariati

Spring is the season of renewal... ( christians celebrate the resurrection of jesus christ, jews celebrate the passover : the exodus of 400 years of slavery under egyptian rule.

Today , we celebrate Mamma, Nonna , Bis-Nonna Elvira: today we celebrate her life... ( it is difficult to compose a eulogy that will represent her almost one hundred years)
this is the conundrum ...

nevertheless, let us begin today's journey with this:

i am reminded of a poem by john keats ( a 19th century english romantic poet) and his poem: "ode to a nigthngale..." ( i will read one of the stanzas)

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain -
To thy high requiem become a sod.



Mamma Elvira celebrated her 97 birthday, on march 1...

yes, for nonna now more than ever it is rich to die... ( on many occasions visiting she stated her desire to die to God; to call her because of all the pain and suffering during her last decade or so. Today she is free of that pain and suffering ... and in a better abode!!!

Today Bis-Nonna Elvira has no pain: no arthitis, no asthma... no migraines...


As keats states the nighingale male has a rich melodious song which he sings at night during the Spring sesaon....

the beautiful melody was offerded to Nonna's grandchildren: she reared and nuturured many... agostino, antonella carlo, cathy, lorenzo, mario michele, marita, nino, patricia, peppino, tina and rosie, who have done the same...

the nighngale's song is Mamma Elvira's song which will continue just as her memory will continue with all her other great grandchildren...

Nonna shared a special line...salute with many grandchildren and children that became a motif "cent anni , nonna!!! cent'anni ( we will celebrate your 100 years in 2013)



Mamma Elvira loved food and introduced many Italian culinary delights to her children: Guarino, Michele , Michellina, Minuzza, and Rosetta, and , ... many have been maintained..practiced... still today

here are a few:


her famous rolled porc~culets stuffed with sausages ( fragiole al a calbrese) in a red sauce

the exquisite marinated eggplnat ( melangiani)

the special chinaquigli ( desserts with raisins, wlanuts and grape jam)

her italian version of doughnuts but very salty...

the special ragu sauce with pork... suasages...and goat... meat

the stuffed eggplants

the stuffed red pepper

the famous home made pastas: lasagna and the memorable potato gnocchi... one serving was never enough!!!!


and... no one will ever forget the 200 + tomato jar preserves... AN ANNUAL EVENT ... which would commence during late august or early september... which seemed to last an eternity.... the transport of dozens ...dozens of bushels of roma tomatoes... ( many grandchildren and children would run... escape this... BUT all would covet these special roma tomato preserves... when achieved) one way or another... somewhere... somehow... this long process would be complete... no one could say NO to mamma nonna elvira's roma tomato preserves...


every time that any of you~ family~ prepare one of these she is alive and smiling...

moreover, family... the importance of family... to mamma nonna bis-nonna elvira holds a special meaning although problems persisted ... in conjunction with many issues, conflicts here and in italy... she needed to maintain to stress... the importance of family...

next, she loved and shared her love of nature~ especially gardening: basil, hot peppers, green bean plants~ and her love of italian music: andrea bocelli... among many others...

Spring is the season of rebirth as well ... Mamma, Nonna, Bisnonna Elvira will traverse the portal to the other kindgom.... the cycle of life : is a cycle of regeneration; she will be in a new form... in a new realm... peaceful... It is ironic that Mamma Elvira passed away during Spring, a season that permitted her to begin to sow... scatter seeds...

Mamma Elvira was happy glancing into her backyard... admiring the fruit of her labour... of her garden...






to conclude ....



our heart aches for Mamma, Nonna, Bis-Nonna Elvira , and we feel a drowsy numbness that pains us because of her loss
My sense is that she would like us to celebrate and remember her free of pain... free of suffering...
let us imagine Elvira happy , happy in her new abode
peaceful among the other Kingdom's GARDEN.
peaceful as the nightingale's song...

let us sing of her life while we are on this terrestial plane
let us sing of ... elvira alberina cariati alfano.. mamma, nonna and bis-nonna to many here...
and let us begin a requiem to her with her secret to longevity :preparing wholesome food, sharing one's heart with someone special and a caring family ... and let us close with the special motif: CENNT'ANNI, CENT'ANNI ...

An Ode To Psyche

i solicit Eros' arrow
to relieve me of this pain
i need nourishment from her marrow .

i wish to swim in her mane
and have her golden locks offer me zeal.
i solicit Psyche's beauty to remove the hard rain.

so our journey may be an extraordinary one
so our trek will take us to new summits
so our escape will have no victims.

Zeus, aid me , arrange a deal,
i cannot bear this silence;
Psyche is the only meal

that i need to sustain me in my hour of convalescence
Oh, Persephone! i need your voodoo
to render her conscious of my existence.

so our journey may be an extraordinary one...
so our trek will take us to new summits...
so our escape will have no victims...

Psyche release me from my mind's tattoo
of you; It is Darkness that tolls for me.
Hermes, i request that you engage in a rescue

of my soul; where are those winged caps to free me?
I need Pan's magical rustic voodoo music
to liberate my spirit, body and mind for me.

so our journey cannot endure...
so our trek will only spiral towards Hades...
so Psyche beckons for refuge amid the moor.

i venture alone in Pan's rustic
Forests; i search for the water nymph of Arcadia;
she must play that melody, it is analgesic

and it will release me from the suburbia
that enslaves me, and its one-dimensional
philosophy and kitsch; i thought Psyche could offer me love amidst
these concrete highways.

Yet it is the Namib desert that must proffer me a reprieve from this pain...
i await its melody...
i await its sand dunes...

Hermes delivers a knell over the Karun :

"Your journey cannot endure;
Your trek will only spiral towards the dry toxic river beds;
Psyche will not solicit your name.

She will not be able to salvage Western civilization;
Psyche cannot change the masses of troglodytes ;
She cannot inspire the Western political eunuchs ."

i venture alone in Pan's rustic
Forests; i search for Syrinx
and her precious hollow reed

The flute must offer me solace amid this mead,
i cannot continue without her reed,
it must offer me a metaphysical seed.

Masters of War

The cycle of violence, destruction and chaos

is

pervasive

our beds are sprayed with USA projectiles and materials :

missiles
cluster bombs
mustard gas
depleted uranium.

It is all excrement...

why is Western Kitsch such a cherished phenomenon ...???
why is it supported by an American military establishment...?
damn... we are polluting the world... shit...
the residue of these toxins inundate the shores of Somalia... Bangladesh...
we blame the pirates, but it is the American MNCs that are the agents of this toxicity...
they should ingest these
Toxins
These masters of war; their excrement is pervasive...

we
are
the masters of war, our passivity sustains this American hegemony.

a one trillion military budget ...

while millions are losing their homes in America
while thousands die form wholly inadequate healthcare
while millions are in prison ~Black teenagers~ for alleged crimes in order to create a caste system

This white ideology must be dismantled ...