by Julia Griffin

“Donald Trump Jr accused of killing protected bird in Venice lagoon:
Italian politician said a video posted online showed Trump Jr with a ruddy shelduck while on hunting trip”
—The Guardian

If somebody says to you “Venice,”
What image occurs to you first?
Pink marble or shadowy menace?
Fair Portia or Shylock, accursed?
Bellini, or Otway preserving?
Du Maurier not looking now?
A Doge (why should that be unnerving?)?
A mask on a gondola’s prow?
Brave Corvo pursuing completion?
Sweet Milly pursued by Kate Croy?
Calvino, that meta-Venetian?
Poor Aschenbach’s beautiful boy?
Or do you, despite such bombarding
From artists in oils and in words,
Now find yourself glumly regarding
Trump Junior demolishing birds?