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The Romany Factor

The Romany Factor

 

Always lived in places new

Never one used before

Not until recently

Small space this

Home to me

Now alone

 

Bright colors

Cozy room

Safety of a womb

Living comfortably

More or less

In this economic mess

Place where I will die

 

But

A haunting

I think

Seeks me out at day’s end

Occasionally

I can see

A shadow reflected in dying light

In the hall

Just before my bedroom door

Slowly fades

And

Disappears in the darkness

Of Christ’s wall

 

Things of a commonality

I ignore

Part of family history

Maternal Romany

Witches, psychics

Madmen, seers and fools

Strega here

Strega there

Strega every witch way

Land of the malocchio

Horns worn  around the neck

Drop of olive oil in a pan of water

Chase the evil away

And

Send it back from where it came

 

The Romany factor

Theirs and mine

Not imagination

Not fantasy

Just another way to see

 

 

 

— Geremia, May 28, 2010

About This Poem

About the Author

Country/Region: USA

More from this author

Critiques

Seren

Seren

16 years ago

Dearest Joe

Another way to see indeed ... wonderful glimpse into your history ... well written my friend I see nothing to crit other than the lines i would bring them closer together ... other than that brilliant as usual love and big hugs Jayne-Chloe x x x ("Quote:-For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.-Ivan Panin")
Seren

Seren

16 years ago

LOL you were fixing the

LOL you were fixing the lines as I typed lol ignore that I just noticed your update love and big hugs JayCee x x x ("Quote:-For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.-Ivan Panin")
Nordic cloud

Nordic cloud

16 years ago

So strong, so strong is superstition.

Ann of Norway It creeps in to us all as we as children walk into the darkness of night, we see and feel and hear things not seen, indeed before the age of four we are not totally certain of what is real and what is fantasy. (Are we ever?) The fairy tales we tell them are believed as truths about living poeples or witches, or goblins, and they look for these in their everyday life any moment expecting one to appear and frighten them, or give them gifts like the Fairy Godmother. This faculty is stronger in some than others, if one might call it a faculty, it pulls when in a position of weakness, or fear, and personifies those fears in strange ways. But it is not only then, as one senses people of the past when visiting some places, the sense of unrest makes one have goose pimples and one wonders why, if one happens as one time did with me, the person beside one is a seer-then she can explain that yes, just here was a great battle, and your seeing the after effects of the slaughter, those people's souls; and I want to run away from that field immediately, as I feel unrest and discomfort there. The girl I mention here was going to find the grave from her former life. I was a chauffeur for her in Scotland, for five weeks, we visited many gaunt graveyards and exciting places and she told me of where she had lived and sensed things with people now living in the same village, describing their former selves -or so she said!!!!! I questioned nothing, I don't KNOW; I gave her the benefit of the doubt and she liked that respect. "Talk of the D" I just went away this moment to make some after supper tea when I picked up the wrapper to a newly bought frying pan, it had a piece of cardboard around it, I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, it is shiny black on the outside and is in the shape of a cross when opened out, and wow is it strong as a symbol, the cross, and we associate Jesus Christ with this shape so much that it is given extreme power whatever one believes or not!! I will send it to you two above later! Love to you both from Annuccia.
Kailashana

Kailashana

16 years ago

I think the more

I think the more superstitious we are, the more evil we believe in....and visa versa. The only evil I've ever felt was from the evil intent from one of my human brothers and sisters. I digress, Joe. You have an interesting life, and that just might be a Chinese curse. ;-) Love. ~A "Just as what you dream is your own and no one else can observe it, so the world you see is your own." ~ Nisargadatta
Geremia

Geremia

16 years ago

J.B. Longo-GeremiaJust

J.B. Longo-Geremia Just received results of DNA testing to find original acestrs: INDIA and Kasha and Pashtun tribes of present-day Pakstanm