Death Italian Style
In Italy when you die
People want to know,
And even though it’s obvious
Where the funeral will be
They must be told when,
So notices are pasted
On stone walls and pillars
With your name in headlines,
A picture and all the details,
As if you were a singer
Appearing at the opera
It’s much quicker
Than newspapers
And it costs less,
For a day or two
You are the subject
Of conversation,
Brief fame for those
Otherwise unnoticed,
Then after the Requiem
And the trip to the cemetery,
They stick another on top of you.
David Subacchi lives in Wrexham, North Wales. He was born in Aberystwyth of Italian roots and Cestrian Press has published two collections of his poems. First Cut (2012) and Hiding in Shadows (2014). He is a member of Chester Poets and Liverpool’s Dead Good Poets. Blog: http://www.writeoutloud.net/profiles/davidsubacchi Twitter@DavidSubacchi