"Giovanni Franchi"
[May-June 1915]
... Continually cutting off an angle from Paszkowski's Through plate-glass swingings To look as busy bodily As the philosopher's brain was As Giovanni Bapini importuned mobs From monumental gums To the sparky detritus From the hurried cigarette Of his disciple Whose papa and mama kept a trattoria Audaciously squatting right opposite the Pitti Palace The Pitti Palace however stolid could hardly help noticing Being an aristocrat it went on looking As plainly piled up as ever The Pitti Palace has never been known to mention the trattoria Or mention Giovanni Franchi Sitting in it At a book It could not see from that distance Giovanni watching the munchers supporting his parents With an eye On assuring himself Of their sufficient impression By erudition ... We have read of Trattoria meaning eating-house Piazzas or squares The Pitti Palace enormous And Paszkowski's for beer All are in Firenze Firenze is Florence Some think it is a woman with flowers in her hair But No it is a city with stones on the streets Giovanni Bapini often said Everybody in Firenze knows me And everybody did Excepting — — That is she didn't She never knew what he was Or how he was himself Yet she uniquely was the one To speculate upon the number of his toes The days growing longer Fulfilling her of curiosity ... She made diurnal pilgrimage To the trattoria To eat Trout that might have been trained for circuses If minarets grew in miniature whirlpools And mayonnaise that helped her to forget That what is underneath need never matter She put all minor riddles out of her Such as What was the under-cover of Franchi's book Telling to the plaid pattern of the table-cloth Too shy to interrogate She sent ambassadors To the disciple They returned Oh rats Quite manifest that Giovanni Franchi Some semieffigy Damned by scholiums Knew no more how many toes — — Than Giovanni Bapini knew himself. |
Piazza della Repubblica 6, Caffe Concerto Paskowski.
Piazza de' Pitti 1, Palazzo Pitti.
"A trattoria / Audaciously squatting right opposite the Pitti Palace"
Where the trattoria is located, although its exact name is unknown. Firenze, Italia.
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