If the windows weren't sealed
On which side would you lie?

Asleep on a bed
In a shade
That's cool

Or a-sweating
On the doorstep
Of a shop

By the lot
Contemplating
How far you've gone

Only to return to bray
How you played ball
A lad

Suffered the scolding of ragged hags
Bag ladies with no teeth
And the breath of dragon

You play a violent game
Rough and tumble
Lad

You attend funerals of late
Bemoan the loss
Let them mourn the dying

And ourselves indeed
Best play games
You shout

Sit and chuck tales
Long heard in pastures
To the lads

And let it be told
How the hags feed candies to
Polite boys


They don't
Kick soda cans
Chalk obscenities on glass facades

They read sacred texts
Let curls fall
Untethered

And you, Signore
An old goat gloating toothless rot
Shout

Kick that ball
Smash that window
Free that spirit

Break
Oh break
My darling's window

Your laughter
Like the crackling glass:
Ribellione!

Luigi Monteferrante has had poems published, or forthcoming, in Neon, Yellow Mama, Word Slaw, poetryfriends, Poesia/Indiana Bay, kudoswriting, Sonar4, Poet’s Ink Review, The Battered Suitcase/Vagabondage Press, Twisted Tongue, Danse Macabre, Language & Culture, Kritya, Burst Now, MOTEL 58. His first novel is At the Hearth of the Devils Lair, followed by 2000-mile book tour on a VESPA scooter through Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Annapolis, Baltimore, NYC. Originally from Montreal, Canada, he lives in Italy where he co-directs Summer Literary Seminars.