“Today our prompt (optional, of course) is another oldie-but-goodie: a poem based on a news article.”

I searched the news all day yesterday and sadly other than Corona I couldn’t find any. So I finally did write a poem which is the result of Corona. It breaks my heart that 5 years’ ago, exactly on this day, we were there and the town was thriving with life

Coronavirus has transformed Italy’s Amalfi Coast from a tourist hotspot to a virtual ghost town (ABC news dated 12th March)

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The coast of Amalfi lies deserted-

Positano, Ravello, Vettica Maggiore*

The terraced gardens look forlorn

As do the corked bottles of limoncello**

Standing on the restaurant window shelves

That yellow liqueur made of sfusato amalfitano***

no longer holds a spell-

The streets of Amalfi are empty

Their sorbet-colored homes standing precariously

On sea-side cliffs look on unhappily

At the abandoned beach of Fornillo****

Gone are the umbrellas and Mr. Ripley inspired bikinis

uomini Italini disoccupati***** now bathe in the sun

No muse for the painter’s brush and the writer’s pen

Their blank bambagina****** tells the story-

Of the ghost-town of Amalfi

where once they came searching- ‘la dolce vita’*******

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*Positano, Ravello, Vettica Magiorre – towns along the Amalfi coast

**limoncello – drink made of lemon and vodka

***sfusato amafino – lemons

****Fornillo – a beach in Positano

******uomini Italiani disoccupate – unemployed Italian men

*****bambagina – hand-made paper

******la dolce vita – the sweet life

P.C. From the News

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