„You have to see the sunrise over Venice“, I was told. But there were clouds in sky.
But all in all, you don’t need a Palazzo –
…and you don’t need the view from the Campanile di San Marco
…or canary birds on balconies,
you don’t need a sweeter sound than laundry drying in the wind
or a more spectacular smell then the remains of the Mercati di Rialto
if you just walk the remote lanes of the city, getting sooner or later inevitably lost.
It was a few days before Christmas that I took a walk in London.
The weather was neither cold nor warm (or at least I didn’t notice) but in the sky there were bubbles and the pavement was plastered with spat out chewing gums.
How long the night must have been. How short the night must have been. How sharp the underground lights sting the heavy eyes.
I didn’t care for a Christmas jumper. Although they were marvelous.
And I didn’t care for a pink piece of cake (someone else already did – halfway that is).
Then I met beautiful people at Camden Market. Psychedelic Rabbits and Leopards and Bare Ankles and all laced in gold.
From behind the window sill I felt a tingle. It was the CCTV watching me.
And the train guided me into my nothingness, lulling us into sleep; the machine a sudden caring mother.
My last friends. They left stains and the impression of their feathery weight on my arm.
More attachment to a city
in its autumn heart I find not only the twilit cold
one could expect
at the end of October
but layered structures that seem to exist in the strangest places.
Walking Oslo once again I wish for more
eyes to notice
more
hands to feel
more
memory to not forget.
As I walked through a friend’s garden,
I noticed autumn’s vanguard.
Funny, I thought.
There doesn’t seem to be anything more beautiful –
than September Rain on a goldfish pond
than rain coated tomatoes (that won’t get red any more)
than a tiny pool bordered by hibiscus petals
than sturdy blossoms awaiting the end of the year.
Guess my thoughts, I say,
to myself (because there is no one else I could ask)
and I answer:
It would feel a little strange to be a Rumanian stray dog
in Constanța
but I could do worse,
chasing cars
chasing fleas
chasing my own shadow as long as there is a sun in the sky.
Have you ever seen the peony’s bud?
It’s not much more than a tight oval.
But when the bud opens up,
the greatest petals
and carpels
and stigma
burst
out.
And while I inhaled the sweet rose’s scent
I couldn’t help but think that it’s a bit like the mind.
There is so much that the cranium
hides from the world.
You never
know.
I would spend 3000 ₩ on a pack of rice chips to feed the seagulls
and I would have their screams accompany me down the beach.
I would walk across to have a look on the other side (and maybe I would stay there.)
I would wait for the sun to set just to see the magnolia at nightfall (between burial mounds, it is death and short term life, as always.)
And I would be a Koi in cold pond water.
Sometimes when you take the road leading south
even in March
there is snow instead of yellow cornelia blossoms.
But you just have to zip up your spring jacket
and wrap your scarf around your neck for a second time.
Maybe tomorrow
there again
will be
sun.
The sun was out in the midmorning and I hope he found something interesting (probably a bug.)
I hope he will have someone to wrap his arms around when his heart gets heavy.
I hope everybody found their shoes again (or at least came to a mutual exchange)
and that he had a great day after all.
I hope they really liked the sound of flags in March wind
and that their next lives are going to be so much better.
I hope that he had all the right tools to fix what needed mending.
I hope we remember love.
I really do.
On a mild mid-march day’s afternoon,
(the blossom was yet to come)
many a selfie was taken.
a teddy was carried through the Namdaeum market
(and I think it was half his owner’s size)
and someone finished his lunch and was pretty satisfied with it.
While some shared with pigeons
(colour-coordinated)
others guarded fluffy pyjamas. I might have gotten one (or not, would you?)
In the evening
the weather cooled down
and I found beasts (plastic paked)
who would have known.
