A Dragonfly Lives In Lucca

A Dragonfly Lives In Lucca - a poem by Joanne Verikios
Nominated for the Australian Book Review Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2019

A museum in Lucca
People walking down a sunlit corridor
Content, talking or silent
Seeing but not seeing
Noticing but not noticing
Thinking of the ancient relics just viewed
Thinking of the coffee they will order
Beat beat, beat beat
Beat beat, beat beat
Beat beat beat beat beat!
It is frustrated but it does not give up
It is as unseeing of the people as they are of it
Its eye globes are fixed on its goal
Its goal is the clear air
The clear air above the green grass
Its goal is outside
Beat beat, beat beat
Beat beat, beat beat
Beat beat beat beat beat!
It does not understand glass
Even though, of all of us there
It is the most glass-like
Its beautiful wings are black-veined windows
Of the finest unstained glass
Its eyes are huge, its spirit knows, its soul accepts
It will challenge the glass
A pane of pain
Until it dies, falls and is swept up by the cleaner
I see it, I notice it, I understand
Trust me, I can help you
Says my finger
But it is a direct line thinker, its goal is so close, the glass is not so thick
Beat beat, beat beat
Beat beat, beat beat
Beat beat beat beat beat!
Frustration, a little rest
No really, let’s try
Says my finger
Alright, says the dragonfly
What do I do?
Climb on!
Tiny foot by tiny foot
But quickly, decisively, three pairs of microscopic ice tongs
Universal to physical
Hold on, sit still!
My feet carry the dragonfly’s feet
Down the hall, through a door, into the open
The dragonfly flies away
Free, more beautiful, no more frustration, gone
A man has noticed and smiles its thanks  

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Author's note: During travels in Italy in 2014, my husband and I visited the walled city of Lucca. We encountered the dragonfly of the poem in a museum there. Trapped inside, it was frantically but fruitlessly trying to get out. Thankfully, it picked up on my intention and rode my finger to freedom. Grateful for the opportunity to be of assistance, I wrote the poem soon afterwards, then found it again, earlier this year.