the green marble of Tinos
the creamy white of Paros the
Venus de Milo, Virgil's "loveliest marble"
soft white Naxos, rich with crystals -
Pentelic marble, rising to the sun above Athens -
black Varenna marble
Murano's grey marble from Marmara
the red African marble at
San Angelo Raffaele with
the Archangel and his dog -
Gesuiti marble becomes
Fortuny fabric
(altare, marmorino, navata)
and Carrara, Michelangelo's marble -
heat and pressure turn limestone
into marble
limestone is organisms made stone
marble was once alive and
maybe, just maybe,
we can hear it,
breathing.
