“Art Meeting,” the Italian script says.

Between a comic opera at Teatro Nuovo
and a field trip to Charlotte so long ago

there ought to be a lasting connection.
And yet all I have is a faulty recollection

of Professor Rupert Barber, whose class
in theatre appreciation I failed to “Ace.”

Clear memory remains: he’d schlep us off
to any Queen City curtain call of Chekhov,

Broadway show or (8th wonder to behold?)
an operatic romp like The Barber of Seville.

So I guess that means I have come full circle:
shaved by a barber, twice blessed by a miracle.

Joined by fiends, both near and far, for an entertaining show.

Décollage #xxyy, One of An Endless Supply

As I watched the shop owner at work,
the diligence of design was a wonder

to behold. Much the way Aquinas said,
the End in view had to be set with care.

“Style doesn’t go to a pile”?
I must be missing an idiom or a pun. Yet however one resolves the puzzle, I adored the precise arrangement!

Two players, one net, and a racket–
so the opera’s defining moment opens.

Later on joined by a Jerry Lewis clone,
soon in amorous quest of fair Drosilla.

Nothing in the game of love is fair,
of course. Only just tryingly funny.

For the extended tour of the art and the studio
in Rome, check out Rafael Vanegas’ website here.

Where’s the fine art and where’s the trash?
“Heart of a photo’s in the framing?” I ask.

With posters that mark each stage of our journey.
With a few thrown in for much further reflection.