The Innisfree Poetry Journal www.innisfreepoetry.org by Lawrence Rhu
Fast-Food Renaissance: A Diptych
1. School Pictures
That grammar school of courtesiesThe Student Union houses Barnes & Noble and Pandini’s, side by side, franchises of larger chains decked out with reproductions on the grandest scale. The Duke and Duchess, portrayed by Piero, make striking icons of Italianate fast food— Federigo, warts and all, with his notched nose; with her plucked brow Battista Sforza—both enlarged way way beyond the original diptych’s size. Beyond the pizzas and calzones: two whole Raphaels and portions of The School of Athens. Sanzio, his father, served the Duke as his court painter, and he taught his son some secrets of the art he’d practice later in Perugia, Florence, Rome. Across the room, Agnolo and Maddalena Dati, two Florentines, commissioned portraits by Urbino’s rising star. In Rome his work includes The School’s role models for the business here at hand, with Aristotle pointing down and Plato up, amid that storied throng. One portion features Raphael himself, in profile, near Castiglione, dressed as Zarathustra. He wrote a portrait of Urbino’s court— no Raphael in prose beyond his means, but something of that kind, which Yeats commends in verse and knows one easily could do much worse. 2. Food Court
“Meal Plan Costs Tick Upward as Students Pay for More Than Food”A frugal Volunteer balks at the fees members of UT’s student body pay for meals he doesn’t need and can’t afford. The corporation that supplies Pandini’s has cut some kindred deals with local schools to finance building projects. I didn’t mind until they changed the wall art. The Duke and Duchess now are gone. No matter. But gone is Piero and all the Raphaels and Castiglione dressed as Zarathustra! Steaming fettucine, scampi, pizza, Caesar salad have replaced the paintings. Rather than wondering why Aristotle’s pointing down and Plato up, philosophers nowadays inquire whether the picture’s steaming or the pasta, or is it pictured pasta steaming pictured steam? Nearby dietitians from Public Health gripe about calories and fat displayed so gorgeously, while students protest hidden costs and over-charging. In vain I search for tall Pythagoras. Nutritionists now widely advocate his pre-Socratic plant-based whole-food diet. Copyright 2006-2012 by Cook Communication |