10 Mafia “Pearls of Wisdom.”

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?”

“Hell no. I swear to be faithful to La Camorra and if I should betray it, my flesh must burn just as this image burns.”


When I was a little girl my father taught me
Everything he thought he
Should pass on to his firstborn child.
And of these words of wisdom
His Neapoletan dictum, a list I've compiled.


Number One.
The best way to dodge a bullet is to
Never be in a position where you can get hit.
That means never sit with your back to an exit
You never know if a foe
Will walk through
Trying to make their debut
By getting rid of you.

Number Two.
Never make decisions when you're livid
You gotta keep a clear head
And emotions, clog a diagnosis
Worse, than deep-vein thrombosis
Obstructing the flow of cold, hard logic.

Number Three.
Keep enemies closer than compadres
Know their thought patterns, their whereabouts
And keep an ear on those ready
To rat them out.


Number Four.
A real G, always deals in hard currency
Cheques can bounce, cards can be traced
Only cash will do in this kind of rat race


Number Five
Never reveal too much about
The ones you love
Cos this is something an enemy
Will take note of
So if you don't wanna lose them
Keep them out of reach and
Don't infuse them into your speech.


Number Six.
Never reveal everything of anything to anyone
Not your brother, your current lover or your mother
Keep 10% inside your head
Cos if there's a snitch in the sit-uation
You can escape to that secret location

Number Seven.
Never, ever forgive betrayal
Word is bond.
Any abuse of this by any and all
Should result in instant dismissal


Number Eight.
It is better to be feared than respected.
Now that's a lesson from The Prince
It worked for Machiavelli
And it's not be wrong since.

Number Nine
Never start something you can't finish
If your confidence or army is diminished
Hang tight.

And Number Ten
If your blinded by your ego
You're ready to fall
Take heed of these lessons
Or make sure
You have a priest on call.

No Sweetness Here

For years I've been
Your pretty china doll.
Pink lips, permanently set
Into a half-smile.
Glass eyes that always acquiesce,
I didn't let them see.
I couldn't let them guess.

I'm dreaming, dreaming.
And in my dream the
Mirror cracks, and I no longer
See myself in your mistakes.
It catapults a million fragments
To the floor and little Lily
Is there. She's playing
With the shards,
Hands bleeding.
Pulling them to her mouth
Like her teething rattle
And blood drips down her baby grow.
And you laugh, you laugh.

I watch your chest rise and fall
Can smell the whiskey on your breath.
I take a plump, paisley pillow,
I press it hard over your mouth.
The porcelain mask starts to
Slip, it slips. It falls to the ground
And splits, it splits.
You don't struggle and your chest
Doesn't rise anymore.

Now I rise.
I walk over to Lily's cot, I
Check her hands and they're
Fine, they're fine.
I kiss her mouth and my
Tears drip down her baby grow.

The Old Mango Tree.

I watch my husband gardening.
Under the shade of the apple tree, he stops,
Assessing his next task.
Surveying, with pride,
Neat borders and bright green grass.


Our garden was wild and beautiful.
Flowers snaked out over cracked paths,
Overgrown orchids and unruly Dahlias
Crossed Calla Lilies as they
Protruded through the jungle of luscious foliage.
The smell of jasmine hung heavy in the
Summer air, heady and delicious.
She would sit for hours under
The old mango tree, cigarette
Smoke coiling around her, watching
The sun disappear behind the grey islands.
My mother, the caged bird.
And why did you stop singing Mama?


I hum the tune she used to
As I put the silverware away,
An indigo life turned magnolia.
How I long for that mango tree now
A hundred years old, his strong
Arms stretched around me.
And who imprisoned you Mama?


As I watch him, I wonder
Should I bring him a glass of
Ice-cold lemonade, like
The wives on American TV?

Random Words In Perfect Order

The agnostics have gone
Cuckoo.
They have carefully lost their minds!
The profound and the loyal:
Are God among men.
The citizens and patriots
Are fighting the Devil in Dixie.
And in this world of
Sustained images of hope,
The shamrock and the
Sunkist face.
Oh the Sun, that purifies all that it touches,
Damns all that it doesn't.

Yesterday

Yesterday, I took the day off.
Not from work or school,
But life.
Yesterday was a day of no food
No time
No sound
No people,
I let them and their lives pass me by.
Let me stress, I was not depressed
I was not tired
I was not bored
Because, naturally, yesterday
Was a day of no emotion.
But today I rose with the sun
I cleaned and preened and creamed my coffee
And went back to business, babe.

My Shattered Sonnet

Time
Is the coin of your life.
And did you spend it wisely my Dear?
Tick. Tick. Tick.
No Tock. Time
Doesn't live here anymore; no clock.
I couldn't stand his face and those
Hands, no longer gentle.
Time, time. Time is not the faithful lover.
He is the gypsy who packed up my salad days
And sailed down the Nile
Without a backward glance.
Backward glances. Recherche du temps perdu.
Time is the miser, but I'm no fool.

No Sad Love Songs.

You said that you had to leave
And "That's just the way it is."
How typical of you
To think of you
And you
Alone.

It didn't matter that
I needed you.
Didn't matter what I had to say.
You just packed up your shit
And you walked the fuck away

You selfish pig of a man
I might have known you were just a boy
And I, your
New,
Exciting,
Sensational toy.
Was shiny no more.

Did you expect me to cry?
To beg?
Well, did you?

Of course you did.
You're a man.
And I, a
Defenceless,
Dependant,
Depressant.
Only half of an entity
Which you make whole.

Well fuck you,
Mr Man
You underestimate my sex.
We hold a unique power,
Don't you know?
And the ability to forget.


You want to leave?
Good-bye.
I'll be damned
If I watch you go.

No, I'll be busy
Washing you out of my hair.
And tomorrow,
O, sweet morrow
It'll be as if you
Were never there.