A Poem by Aldo Tambellini

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7289996.post-1153405589688237952006-07-20T09:25:00.000-05:002006-07-20T09:26:29.706-05:00A Poem by Aldo TambelliniAMERICA Al Capone died for your sins died for the privately owned on the take respected politicians died for the creative entrepreneurial capitalistic spirit supplying a need wanted by the people died as a CEO & Chairman of the board ruling a powerful highly profitable corporation & for security employing hit-men protecting from the competition exterminating rats with the new law & order the highly successful soprano hits the high C performing in the sold-out drama best known as: THE MOBSTER STEREOTYPED OPERA receiving artistic awards & endless encores remember those 2 immigrants Sacco & Vanzetti one smelling of fish the other a peddler they were framed & executed in the historical puritanical Boston believing that the free America symbolic eagle with clipped wings was an endangered species let’s not forget Rocky the macho italio-stallion what happened in the never ending boxing ring saga did he win/loose/make a come-back/fade away? or did the downsized intellectual brain deflate his muscular power & if the Viking came here before the navigating controversially adventurous Colombo they should be represented with an antique museum ship at that once a year proud marching band parade notice the political candidates making the obligatory brief appearance & disappearance after hustling for votes who really did & why they shot a different Colombo 2 bullet slugs in the brain disrupting the Unity Rally in Manhattan an FBI well scripted HIT scenario? the growing Italian American Civil Rights League was relentlessly under fire from the NY media they could not tolerate the stereotyping claims of yet another discriminated group but you will ask what the hell is this all about? why call that bloody red drink DEGO WINE fermenting in the Napa Valley why not re-baptize it MAFIOSO WINE updating the label to a more popular sellable identification during this multi-cultural & divided gender time it seems many discriminated groups are prominently represented filling the bookstore shelves/the library & school texts someone will say: we have equal representation too buried below ancient graves there in the old country patronized by Lorenzo Il Magnifico de Medici public TV called him the RENAISSANCE GODFATHER (it raised some objection) I disagree says someone else: here with the masses we have achieved high recognition in this new country we have the famous deceased notorious TEFLON DON the network financing his family to grow up on TV we have an endless list of odd names playing on the media HIT PARADE: Jimmy the Clam/ Alley Boy/Anthony Gaspipe/ The Chin/The Snake/Crazy Joe Gallo the who’s who list too long to mention the canaries inside cages sing to the judge at the FEDERAL COURT HOUSE while big time legitimate political gangsters cash in billions from wartime racketeering devastating nations destroying lives as the ecological balance tilts to disaster we have the best seller powerful CORLEONE acted by legendary Brando sealed lips/secret OMERTA/ COSA NOSTRA affairs/ territorial wars & VENDETTA we have the ruthless GANGLAND MOBSTERS killing each other in real life & on the bigger than life-size Hollywood screen question: does a name make one guilty by association? we have the grease ball/the wise guy/ the good nature dumb GOOMBA all well publicized loved & hated by the media as for the history books don’t forget the over-achiever LUCKY LUCIANO first imprisoned by the government later released as a useful tool for the Feds others will say: pay no attention it’s all a tempest in a teapot it will all wash away & the children of the children of the struggling back breaking cheap labor un-welcomed immigrants do they know LA STORIA SEGRETA the disrupted lives of the GUINEA’S WWII internment camps? & those who have so called “arrived” with legitimate professions? well most of them have gone outside dangerous cities migrating to insulated safe suburbia inspired by the AMERICAN DREAM sold by TV commercials carpet lawn desert/two car garage & shopping mall heaven some may be renting blockbuster video reruns featuring well directed & acted ruthless MOB CAPOS-men of honor ruling the crime corporation with good old family values their greedy mouths stuffed with spaghetti or linguini home made basil tomato sauce simmered in blood remember the Alka Seltzer commercial thatsa a spicy meataballa & those viewers could be judges/doctors/lawyers/teachers/ even proud local politicians or just blue-collar workers they might say to the growing new generation: LOOK finally we have arrived at a nationally visible representation question: is the most acknowledged contribution food & crime? somewhere a writer/an artist/a creative intellectual dreamer sits in a dark corner at the CAFFE’ PARADISO staring at Dante’s shrunken head on the wall next to a puzzled Mona Lisa reproduction one of them reading lines from a famous poem: I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness starving hysterical naked he sips a bitter espresso macchiato with chemical creamora tasting an artificially sweetened cannoli thinking: maybe someday there will be a real cultural pride parade just maybe is this a wishful dream or something to think about?thedomnoreply@blogger.com