One Night in Naples

(Inspired by a trip to Naples with my twin sister in March 2022)

The pulse of Art Pepper

Plunges into pools of golden prosecco –

An echo

Of the dreaming jazz era.

Apple and floral bouquets

Bubble in the bookish beauty

Of Libreria Berisio.

Subtly below

The dimmed warm glow

Of a stained-glass bulb;

(A Mithraic

Mosaic),

Snuggle collections of culture –

A commentary on Campania’s Camorra.

Delirious from the delinquent beat

Of Bud Powell,

Intoxicated on thyme tarallini,

We warp time into whirls

Of wonderment,

Ready for a nebulous night

In Naples.

Scotch is served.

The lone lady to our left

Lifts her summoning hand,

In preparation to stand

And exit this literary dreamland.

Dust-ridden relics,

Housing perpetual protagonists

Emanate ancient aromas

Of secret cigars,

And magnolia-infused memoirs.

Minds fill with fantastic frivolity,

And soon five o’clock becomes nine –

A sign

To pursue Neapolitan pizza:

The marinara adorned in artichoke -

To be consumed under Italy’s cultural cloak.

Their masterstroke.

Italian flags float above

The Alley of Purgatory's Fig –

Enticing dusk drifters

To enter under an edible illusion;

A fusion

Of factitious vines –

Indicative of Italy’s worldly wines.

Fairy-lights glow

As though,

Warm orbs

Hovering in the obsidian sky.

A sight poignant to the pass-by.

These spheres of Tuscan sun,

Twinkling in twilight –

Defy a city fashioned

Through crime.

‘Italy’s shame’.

The Camorra to blame.

The sight of gangster game(s).

The wine-wrapped pergola arch,

Hosts a Boglioli suit,

Offering a gold-plated tray of mushrooms en croute.

Red and white chequered tablecloths

Whisper to one-another –

As though a lover

Sharing subtle insights

Into intimate Mediterranean nights.

Quartieri Spagnoli,

Seems conspicuously unholy

In attitude.

Home to a historic feud

Whereby, 14-year-old Annalisa Durante was killed.

A victim of Naples’ cutthroat guild(s).

Alive with the sirens of audacious scooters,

Yet, host to sanguine solicitude,

This space smiles through the delude

Of coastal calmness.

A cranny cuddles kindness.

Three rounds of wine and Peroni,

Reminds our host that she is not lonely;

That tourists will visit her terrified tavern

At an incidental time in springtide –

Appeasing the wicked, local war-bride.

Money she cannot hide,

In a city codified

By the Camorra.

Anomalous bruschetta served.

Butter observed

By the British vegan.

Aubergine grilled with quality care,

Waiters epitomise an epicure;

Eloquence arising from fuel-infused air,

Out of nowhere

In Naples.

‘Si A Vita Mij’

Hangs on a suspended heart,

Hailing those strayed away

To say:

‘Yes to my life’.

Quartieri Spagnoli rejects strife –

And we felt larger-than-life;

Pure pleasure

In this Neapolitan treasure.

***

A night in Naples is crazed.

I left feeling entirely amazed.

Flawless

In lawless

Design –

It is the perfect place to wine and dine -

Entertained by a chaotic coastline.