CAMILLO DIMARIA

DRIVING

the digital clock
gets clacked
by the rosary
hanging from
the rearview mirror.

the rosary clacks
the digital clock
lodged
in the framework
under the dashboard.

when the ball of the foot
presses the brake pedal
or lifts off
the brake pedal
and switches to the gas pedal—

it's these deft decisions
which seem like instinct
that entice the clack
and the lack thereof.

it's possible that one could
get distracted by that
clack, clack, clack,
clack, clack

of religion against time
of wood against plastic…
but one could also learn
to live with it.

Camillo was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Queens, moved to Long Island for nine months, and then to Paris for three months. Oh! Lived in Sicily for a year. Now he's back in Queens and wants to move to Brooklyn. He speaks Spanish, French, and Italian fluently. Knows more than a little Greek, and is studying Arabic at the moment. He also loves to paint and take photographs and has also been known to compose his own music. He is working on his first novel. But, first of all, he's a poet. He's not too crazy about the job he holds now, and is not too crazy about referring to himself in the third person.

Several of his favorite poets are Cavafy, Pessoa, Ashbery, Dickinson, Piercy, and DiPrima. Somewhere along the line he wants to put together his own literary magazine. Will keep you posted.