readings/appearances

SAPPHO

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"Although they are only breath
words which I command are immortal"

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

I saw my great grandmother dancing dancing dancing
at a Greek Festival
Her face on a young beauty in full costume
the dress the same as the one she wore
in the only photo she ever took
when she was a dimpled girl
in an embroidered headdress

her face was for kissing
her feet for dancing

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho
Greece Sicily Greece Sicily Greece Sicily
lands of light
una faccia una razza

Nonna Nonna dancing dancing

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"tender feet of Cretan girls
danced once around an altar of love
crushing a circle in the soft, smooth flowering grass"

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

Nonna Nonna is dancing and turning
turning and dancing toward the light

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"the full moon is shining
Girls take their places
as though around an altar"

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

the moon, O Sappho, the moon
the dance the kisses the sea
loves spin poems dance
by a sapphire sapphic sea

Greek and Sicilian
Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Aegean Seas
the deepest blue
black eyes and green seas
sapphire sapphic seas

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho
the sun of Sicily is the same sun of Lesbos

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho
you sang in exile on Etna's isle

Yet the tongue was yours
the dance was yours
they yearning for lost loves still yours

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say
"Go and be happy
but remember whom
you leave shackled by love"

grey eyes and brown and sea gree
soft footsteps flowers in hair

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho
you the tenth muse
I say to my friend visiting Lesbos
to whisper my name to you
for I have felt Sicilian sun and Greek sun
and viewed the burning stars of night time yearning

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"Day in, day out
I hunger and I struggle"

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

my great grandmother in the photo in costume
of Sicily of Greece of Mediterranean

her feet turn and skip
her face smiles and sings

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho
in Philadelphia my blood is your blood
if brotherly love is more
if sisterly love is more

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"No voices chanted
choruses without ours
no woodlot bloomed in Spring
without our song"

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

bless me with poems
show me sun and sea and words
help me in exile in familiar places
teach me the songs ancient and new

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"Neither honey nor
the honey bee is
to be mine again"

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"The night is now half gone
youth goes
I am in bed alone"

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho
love comes and goes and transcends
all earthly time

there are women who have gone

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

there are women who left our lives

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

still we savor the sweet taste
feel the light touch
smell the fragrant flesh
drink the womb's salted sea

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

you say and I say and you say

"You may forget but
let me tell you this:
someone in some future time
will think of us"

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

I saw my great grandmother's face
on a young Greek American girl
una faccia una razza
I was a Sicilian American
at the Greek Festival
in this new old world

O Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

she burns my heart

Sappho Sap pho Sappho Sap pho

BIOSKETCH OF MARIA FAMA

"Sappho" is from Fama's most recent book, Looking for Cover. Maria Fama is the readings/appearances of three books of poetry. Her work appears in numerous publications and has been anthologized. In 1998, she was named a finalist in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. Fama has read her poetry in many cities across the country, read one of her stories on National Public Radio, co-founded a video production company, and recorded her poetry for CD compilations of music and poetry. Maria Fama did her undergraduate and graduate work in History at Temple University. Fama's poems were awarded the 2002 and 2005 Aniello Lauri Award in Creative Writing. She appears in the film documentaries "Prisoners Among Us" and "Pipes of Peace" reading her poems. In 2006 she was awarded the Amy Tritsch Needle Award for Poetry. Her new book of poems, Looking for Cover, has been published by Bordighera Press. Maria Fama teaches English at DeVry University and lives in Philadelphia.

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