MAHLER & MANN
I spent my novel years
reading Thomas Mann,
Buddenbrooks,
Doctor Faustus,
The Magic Mountain,
but until I rehearsed
the Adagietto
in Mahler’s Fifth
to Der Tod in Venedig,
the story did not
became colorfully alive
until the Visconti film
captured an unrequited
lover as Dirk Bogarde
portrayed Aschenbach
in his uneasiness,
yet the critics
were divided
as usual either in a class
of ageist snobbery,
or aesthetic commentary
of pseudo intellectuals,
but it was a difficult story
to tell except for the few
who were accused
of being in a cult
as in a blown sexual robbery
in Dog Day’s Afternoon
portrayed by Al Pacino
and left to rue,
I, however enjoyed playing
the clever double part
of music and art.