The jester sadly sings
Sitting next to the red tour
Red lions, red bricks, red flags
The multicolored hat with bells
In the middle of Piazza San Marco
Sad ode of the imprisoned Casanova
Who lost his jewels
On the Bridge of Sighs
The sun burns Canaletto canvases
The wind blows the jester’s hat
In the canal waters
The ghosts float leisurely
Veronese, Caravaggio, Titian,
Crossing the bloody sunset
As the red moon slowly rises
Behind Murano island
The gondoliers are shouting melodiously
While next to Judeka
The sunset pales in the purple night.

Valerie Oisteanu
Valery Oisteanu is a writer, artist and art-critic with international flavor. Born in Russia (1943) and educated in Romania. He adopted Dada and Surrealism as a philosophy of art and life. Immigrating to New York City in 1972, he has been writing in English for the past 38 years. He is the author of 11 books of poetry, a book of short fiction and a book of essays: ”The AVANT-GODS”(in progress). A new collection of poetry with collage illustrations titled   “Perks in Purgatory” appeared in” Fly by Night Press” New York, 2009. For the past 15 years he is a columnist at New York Arts Magazine and art critic for Brooklyn Rail and www.artnet.com.