Tony D'Arpino
Fetish
Gutenberg’s first machine
Was made from a wine press
And Arabic chessboard
Of elbows and silk ink
A theatre of manners
Glop of grass illuminated later
In typeface phonics
Before the tyranny of the title page
Eclipsed by the monumental
Forest scenes more stone
Bridges than people
Pinecones in the sand
Wonder drain and palace reservoir
I am the dry feathers
A printer’s devil
Blue song of your handprint
Commentary
Word pictures inspired by some works of Albrecht Dürer (especially his watercolour Great Piece of Turf), as well as the handprints of ancestors at Lascaux and Pech Merle caves. Fetish was published in Poetry Salzburg during lockdown.