literature

Donna Vampiro

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Literature Text

Donna Vampiro


Back into our hands again, you are
now not thinking of us, or yourself, or how
we might forget to know you

as more than just a few words
for a woman’s body found in a mass grave,
as we call you the remains of the first vampire

and consider the brick
lodged between your jaws to stopper
fear and disease. Donna Signora,

so small and hard a shard of ghost
silence, what undemanding offices
might sway us not to stare at

how no clots of earth are needed
to hold the ornaments of your teeth in place –
there – there – there – to notice

that the damp is no longer your concern,
that you will not starve to death, that you are not
weeping over your return to this?
I ask, not out of sorrow.
So, a few days back I was reading a little of this and that, just here and there, you know...like ya' do, and I see Italy Dig Unearths Female 'Vampire' in Venice. What could I do but read on.

ROME – An archaeological dig near Venice has unearthed the 16th-century remains of a woman with a brick stuck between her jaws — evidence, experts say, that she was believed to be a vampire.

The unusual burial is thought to be the result of an ancient vampire-slaying ritual. It suggests the legend of the mythical bloodsucking creatures was tied to medieval ignorance of how diseases spread and what happens to bodies after death, experts said.

The well-preserved skeleton was found in 2006 on the Lazzaretto Nuovo island, north of the lagoon city, amid other corpses buried in a mass grave during an epidemic of plague that hit Venice in 1576.

"Vampires don't exist, but studies show people at the time believed they did," said Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist and anthropologist at Florence University who studied the case over the last two years. "For the first time we have found evidence of an exorcism against a vampire."

Medieval texts show the belief in vampires was fueled by the disturbing appearance of decomposing bodies, Borrini told The Associated Press by telephone.

During epidemics, mass graves were often reopened to bury fresh corpses and diggers would chance upon older bodies that were bloated, with blood seeping out of their mouth and with an inexplicable hole in the shroud used to cover their face.


As I read, I grew curious. You know you're a little curious now too. You can learn more here [link]

The last line of the poem is taken from a piece by Czeslaw Milosz, Encounter</b>. I'll put it in my journal for the interested among us. You can read a little about him here [link]

I have another format for this piece that I am still considering...things may change. Things almost always do :D
Dave Prisk
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Laurenlangley's avatar
excllent writing, amazing.