About Italians

What is it about Italians
What shortening or lengthening of genes
delivers them, two steps past ordinary
to elegance

The Greeks, Chinese are older at the game
Further up the food chain of antiquity
and yet the grace is there, Italian
Unmistakeable, felt even in a crowd

Art is life in Italy, the conversation
swells with it, each word a craft
Hereditary smells and tastes, a simmering
of language, ladled over me

An entire nation on fire with life
Centuries, regarded from a fourth dimension
Visions pop, like rabbits from a hat
What is it about Italians