 |
| Marco Zoppo Penitent St Jerome ca. 1470 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Pietro Perugino Madonna in Glory with Saints (detail with St John the Evangelist) ca. 1500 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Michele Coltellini Death of the Virgin ca. 1502 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Giovanni Francesco Maineri Portrait of Alessandro Faruffino ca. 1509 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Franciabigio Virgin and Child ca. 1510-13 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Innocenzo da Imola Virgin and Child in Glory (detail with Lucifer subdued by St Michael Archangel) ca. 1517-22 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Bartolomeo Passarotti Death of Lucretia ca. 1545-50 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Lorenzo Sabatini Assumption of the Virgin (detail of Angel) ca. 1569-70 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Orazio Samacchini Coronation of the Virgin, with Saints (detail) ca. 1575 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Lavinia Fontana Swaddled Baby lying in a Cradle ca. 1583 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Annibale Carracci Annunciatory Angel 1588 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Francesco Gessi Omphale setting Hercules to work with Distaff and Spindle (detail) ca. 1620-30 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Michele Desubleo (Michele Fiammingo) Christ appearing to St Augustine ca. 1650 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| Giuseppe Gambarini Winter- ca. 1721-25 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
 |
| attributed to Nicola Bertuzzi (l'Anconitano) Beato Franco Lippi da Siena before 1777 oil on canvas Chiesa di San Martino, Bologna |
Apparitions Are Not Singular Occurrences
When I rode the zebra past your door,
wearing nothing but my diamonds, I expected to hear bells
and see your face behind the thin curtains.
But instead I saw you, a bird, wearing the mask of a bird,
with all the curtains drawn, the lights blazing,
and death drinking cocktails with you.
In your thin hand, like the claw of a bird, because you are a bird,
the drink reflected the light from my diamonds, passing by.
Your bird's foot, like thin black threads of bone or metal staples,
has the resistance necessary to keep death at a pleasant distance,
drinking his Scotch and enjoying your company,
as he seldom has a chance; the zebra hide against my bare legs
is warm. The diamonds now warm on my neck,
on my fingers,
my feet,
my ears.
How death looks at them
and my body
and the old man desires them all.
I rode by your window, hoping you would see me and want me
not knowing you already had a guest.
The diamonds I put on for you,
the clothes I took off;
and my zebra – did you see his eyes just slightly narrow
as we came by?
Not knowing you would wear your bird-mask,
I let you see my face.
Not knowing death would be there,
I rode by.
And death and I see each other now so often,
I have even thought of becoming a trapeze artist so that I might
swing on the bar away from him – so far up he'd never reach me,
but instead I see him more and more with all my friends,
drinking, talking,
and always his elderly eyes are watching me.
And you, observing me ride by on my zebra and dressed only in
my diamonds, were my one last hope,
but even you, wearing the mask of a bird, invited him to have a drink
and left the curtains drawn for him,
sharing something which you had no right to share.
– Diane Wakoski (1961)