{"id":8614,"date":"2024-10-17T11:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/?post_type=article&p=8614"},"modified":"2024-10-16T20:35:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T20:35:45","slug":"giovanni","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/giovanni\/","title":{"rendered":"GIOVANNI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edmund White<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s left of an ex in my memory?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He was kind and courtly (as he should have been<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since he was a Sicilian aristocrat),<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When he wasn\u2019t being horrid if I stepped<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of line, then frozen with fury and\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unforgiving. He taught me one good pasta<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recipe, Pasta alla Norma, with fried eggplant. He<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bought me a CD player when mine broke, several\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cashmere blankets, and he restored a leather<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Club chair that was in tatters. He was a doctor, could play<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The harpsichord, cook a few dishes, entertain<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his battleship-sized loft, lie and cheat convincingly,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Make the sort of love a heterosexual Mediterranean\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Male might make, selfish and athletic\u2014and which I liked\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because it never dwindled away even after we broke up.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We both cried a lot. He had a black ceramic vase with an<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

African face and a crown, until I explained that<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Was unacceptable in politically correct New York.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then it was banished, as was I when I told his new\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lover that Giovanni and I were still having sex. I saw a good shrink<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And got over him. I\u2019ll never have another lover\u2014<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Too much of a bother. Once in a while I wish we could<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Speak on the phone, to find out whether his father\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parkinson\u2019s is progressing, whether his little brother\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Got married, and did he ever discover a cure for that\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kind of breast cancer. And does he still hate me?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edmund White\u00a0   What\u2019s left of an ex in my memory?\u00a0 He was kind and courtly (as he should have been\u00a0 Since he was a Sicilian aristocrat),\u00a0 When he wasn\u2019t being horrid if I stepped\u00a0 Out of line, then frozen with fury and\u00a0\u00a0 Unforgiving. He taught me one good pasta\u00a0 Recipe, Pasta alla Norma, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8615,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[6,1982],"class_list":["post-8614","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry","tag-aquifer-the-florida-review-online","tag-edmund-white"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGIOVANNI - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/giovanni\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GIOVANNI - The Florida Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Edmund White\u00a0   What\u2019s left of an ex in my memory?\u00a0 He was kind and courtly (as he should have been\u00a0 Since he was a Sicilian aristocrat),\u00a0 When he wasn\u2019t being horrid if I stepped\u00a0 Out of line, then frozen with fury and\u00a0\u00a0 Unforgiving. 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