David Starkey 
Circus Maximus [EPUB ebook] 

I. Pinacoteca

The Son of Man in the Picture Gallery 7

Judith and Holofernes 9

The Deluge 10

Madonna and Saint Anne 11

Nativity 12

The Ugliest Jesus in the History of Western Art 13

The Baptism of Christ 14

Deposition 15

The Calling of Saint Matthew 16

Allegory of the Discovery of America 17

AVisit to the Vatican Museums 18

i. In the Gallery of Maps

ii. Sistine Chapel, July

iii. Uscita

The Question of Temporality in Renaissance Painting 21

Ecstasy 22

II. Votivo

The Son of Man Goes to Church 24

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa 25

A Primer on Sculpting Pietàs 26

The Triumph of Faith Over Heresy 27

Nuns in Rome 28

Wax Monk in a Glass Box 29

San Callisto 27

Figure on a Marble Sarcophagus 31

In the Capuchin Crypt 32

A Wedding in Santa Maria in Aracoeli 33

Blurry Nighttime Photograph of Saint Peter’s Cathedral 34

At the Beatification of Pope John Paul II 35

Pasquetta 36

Tuesday Afternoon Mass in the Capella Paolina 37

Votive 38

III. Circo Massimo

The Son of Man, Peripatetic 40

Palely Loitering 41

Il Cimetero Acattolico di Roma 42

The Italian Man of Letters 43

Ora di Punta 45

Beneath the Ponte Umberto I 46

Tre Osservazioni 47

1. The Consequences of Being Late in Italy

2. Reading The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in a Café on the Via

Belsiana

3. To the Birds on Lungotevere dei Mellini Trying to Sing Above the Traffic Noise

To the Sycamore Trees Along the Tiber 48

Tiber Stairs 49

The Garbagemen of Rome 50

Fontana di Quattro Fiumi 51

The Rape of Proserpine 52

Spring Comes to Rome 53

Thunderstorm, Piazza Navona 54

Circus Maximus 55

Coda: Le Porte di Corno e Avorio

The Gates of Horn and Ivory 57

David Starkey is the former Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, California, and Director of the Creative Writing program at Santa Barbara City College. Among his poetry collections are
Adventures of the Minor Poet (Artamo Press, 2007),
Ways of Being Dead: New and Selected Poems (Artamo, 2006),
David Starkey’s Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2002), and
A Few Things You Should Know About the Weasel (Biblioasis, 2010). A senior Fulbright scholar and six-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, Starkey is also the author of
Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief.