Four poems

By Alessio Zanelli

Heritage

Shrouds of dust across the epochs. 

Leagues and lustrums, 

milestones left along forgotten roads. 

The race of events 

by the slow flow of millennia. 

Progeny in search of primogenitors. 

Shadows of memories adrift in the future,

a stock doomed to oblivion. 

Empty vestiges, 

the earth avenged. 

Labile marks

into the brimless abyss of time.

On The Cusp Of The 1970s

Streams of silence debouch

into the oily light of the room,

where a buzzing cassette player

vomits clanking cacophonies.

Outside, the opalescent fog

is neither hasty nor patient;

grievous, the weeks drown

in the fading poster’s gloss.

Shrill, thoughts defy the flame

of a longing without a name;

still, over the worn ceiling

impossible skies glide adrift.

The balance of power shifts

and nobody pays attention,

the wall calendar crumples

in the future-free new year.

Upper Midhope

Mixed cattle freely graze

and falcons circle high.

A bunch of houses shoots

right where the dale ascends.

The trip may have begun

and be to finish here.

Asgard

Snow on the green ground,

golden leaves on the snow,

the sun the great absentee

from solstice to perihelion.

Old comics piled on the table

by a chipped photo mug,

blank paper, a blunt pencil.

Befogged thoughts adrift

down the drain of memory.

Nothing and nobody to avenge

except ourselves on ourselves.

No mighty shield or hammer,

just flickering candlelight

and eyes on the sea.

Ships sail toward the border,

packed with boisterous people

eager to plunge into the void

off the roary brink of lethe

and to fall for eternity.

All I do is

look in a speckled mirror,

all I see is

an old man staring back.

Screaming echoes in the distance,

space and time fade out.

Alessio Zanelli is an Italian poet who writes in English. His work has appeared in over 200 literary journals from 19 countries. His sixth collection, titled The Invisible, was published in 2024 by Greenwich Exchange (London). For more information please visit www.alessiozanelli.it and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessio_Zanelli.