LeeAnn Bartolini

IL RATTO

Bernini’s sculpture
Rape of Persephone
stuns the visitor marble cold

all week she walks
the eternal streets:
unwanted calls, touches,

pinches, rubs
no matter street
museum bus

then to see those fingers
mark her skin
to witness her

arms reach for us
her face of anguish
ask for our help

tourists move in silent
unison like nuns
walk to evening prayer

contemplate the rape
from all angles
they try to grasp

the god’s motive
blame her
for walking alone