Thursday, August 27, 2026: John DeAngelo's "Oh, So Close" (with art photo)

 

                                                                                                                                   © John DeAngelo

John DeAngelo was born and raised in Greenwich Village. And if asked, he’ll tell you that he has always been an artist, both a poet and visual artist. John is a Vet who served in Vietnam. And whether out of fear of boredom or death, (probably both) he first began writing and photographing seriously.

After making it home more or less intact, he received a B.A. in English and subsequently

pursued graduate study in Comparative Literature at Rutgers University, where his focus was poetry and was fortunate to study with the poet Nathaniel Tarn, who took him under his tutelage.

He’ss been published in various magazines and journals,including Red Wheelbarrow 14, Worksheets 67 & 68, Flora Fiction. Syndic, The World Poetry Anthology, Thorny Locust, Carmina, etc, has a chapbook titled Beginnings and Ends, and his books include, Trump: American Carnage (available from Amazon), My Other Wing a celebration of Love in poetry and art, Conspicuous Denial and his most recent publication, A House Divided, (from Lulu.com) and is currently busy creating and prepping new work for future publication.

To satisfy his other passion, he took graduate Fine Arts courses, specializing in photography and digital mediums ( painting, collage, mixed media) and has exhibited in both Chelsea and SoHo. Some of his visual art can be viewed at www.yessy.com/johndeAngelo

Oh, So Close

O! How we loved Venice!

From the Pitti Palace

where we were treated like royalty

they even hailed the vaporetto

the water taxis that took us

under the Rialto Bridge

to St Mark’s Square

its Cathedral

and the Doge’s Palace

or staring agape at the views

from the Ponte dell ’Accademia

purchasing some hand-blown

glass treasures in Murano

all spectacularly overwhelming

but most especially

the romantic gondola ride

under a full moon sky

on the Grand Canal

with the city draped in lights

as the Gondolier’s lilting voice

celebrated the grandeurs of love

while we stared in awe

at the ancient majestic Palazzos

lining both banks like jewels

glittering in a Tiffany display

in this still magnificent city

that in our eyes far surpassed

Paris as the city of romance.

And later stumbling around

the side streets on foot

looking for artists’ row

to have our portrait painted

here in this glimmering diadem

which we never did find

despite walking over

what seemed like enough bridges

to have traveled round the world.

But what we did find

quite by accident

was a centuries old trattoria

tucked in some back street piazza

that was founded, still owned

and operated by the same family

at least so we were told

and notwithstanding

how great the food was

throughout all of Italy

ah! Squisito!

we enjoyed our best meal

in that centuries old trattoria

where the food and vino

welcomed us as family

but whose name I don’t remember

in that back alley piazza

adjacent to a cathedral

where impulsively

we decided to finally marry

except the padre was out to lunch.

© John DeAngelo