Ulysses for Italians

 “I guess the man’s a genius, but what a dirty mind he has, hasn’t he?”

—Nora Joyce (James Joyce’s wife, on Molly Bloom’s sexy 60-page monologue at the end of Ulysses)

I was a Flower of the mountain no

when I put the rosemary in my hair like

the Calabrian girls used

or shall I wear a red no

and how he kissed me under

the wall and I thought well

as well why him when there’s another

and then I asked him with my eyes

to not ask again no

and then he asked me would I no

to say no my garlic blossom

and first I squeezed my hands around

his throat no

and pushed him away from me so

he could feel my breath all onions no

and his heart was going all vafanculo

and no I said no I won’t NO!