Monica Vitti

Imagine a pale apparition standing fixed under a canopy of vacuous blue brightness,
the scorching sun baking the termite mounds of steel and concrete
rising from earth flattened and wiped clean of bucolic charms
and the morass of Italy's wartime ruins.

This moribund backdrop of a hyperrealistic nightmare sinks slowly away,
a statuesque silhouette drifts by, blond manes flown,  her steps in tune
with the whispering breeze of a sullen afternoon.

Feminine grace among fading ruins and the rootless anemia,
a melancholic sigh swallowed in the mute screech
of monochrome starkness...