I.
dino strides nervously
back and forth behind
the bar: shrewd, foxlike
sometimes arch, the enthusiasm
of truth and bullshit combined
in an amalgam of porcupine
quills and steel darts
long nights behind the bar, dino’s gruff
voice parting the smoke laden air, a lot
of dudes were sucked down the drain
as he paced the boards behind the bar
drinking and smoking weed
thriving in an environment
of his own, not a stranger
or a social poacher, but
a native
in the city
of saints
and workers
fisherfolk
and bridge builders
II.
the elderly paisanos hanging out
in the bar talk of the mortgage
the land lost to taxes in the old
country, the hard times, the hunger
yeah, the idiocy, the long cheroots
twisted at the ends, the shrewdness
of those who survived the depressions
and immigration, fascism and crude
land barons, and those now groping
through the real estate wars, struggling
italians who made north beach their home
without ever placing a cultural
tithe on the art of this nation
you gotta travel far to forget
that you ever marvelled that the sun came up
like a mirage through the morning fog, and watched
the pinks and magentas whirling around the towers
of the golden gate, the light as translucent as
silk sheets and ladies waking up with a shrug
a cup of black coffee held in both hands, wonder
ing where the hell they stashed the last ciga
rette before the lights went out and there was
only the labored sound of two people panting
and groping for the ultimate response to love
III.
you can’t go anywhere as a writer
dino cries hoarsely, unless you include
us-- nowhere man, you know that, his
arm sweeping the whole bar, brushing
away the cobwebs of doubt, all the way
from the gyrating color t.v. to the swinging
doors and back, cementing
the beer and wine glasses
in place and applying a
final, crinkled glaze
on the old paisanos’s card
game in the far corner, as
if painted for posterity.
George Tsongas
Spring 1974
George Tsongas is a North Beach writer. So is his dog Gemma.
The late Dino Petrucci was a classic North Beach bartender and jazz lover.