Episode 554: San Crispino, Rome's Best Gelato

We spent the morning doing a walking tour, led by a Florentine guide who spoke possibly the best English I've encountered so far, as well as being pretty wry. Florence is very beautiful with all its marble buildings, but it is kind of weird to think that the foundations for all these are the ruins of Roman Florence. So I wrote today's poem about it. The result is passable I think, and I've also decided, screw it, I'm going to end my poems with little epiphanies if I want to. Elizabeth Bishop does it all the time, and together with Thom Gunn's restraint and Philip Larkin's cynicism, is basically the inspiration for my portfolio. (It's odd in a way, as these three poets frequently write in form and rhyme delicately and brilliantly, whereas my only concession to form is writing strictly in syllabics most of the time and alliteration comes more naturally to me than rhyme.) Rome, I find, is more historically fascinating than beautiful in its own right. I did have what's supposed to be the best gelato in the city. Rum cocoa, which my mum would've loved because it's very strong, and apple sorbet, which was impressive because it was red apple and I swear it had bits of apple flesh in it! (It also turns out that I wasn't being charged for yesterday's WiFi, so I guess I should have made more use of it.)