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Ithaca

 

Trojan bronze and coin

embedded in Ionian turquoise blue;

Where metal black crows span above a man spraying spittle

over weaved baskets in strips of long bamboo - skinned.

 

I suckled on Tzatziki and lamb Kleftiko

consumed a carafe of Grecian wine;

saw the stars of Ithaca dance with mountain songs

bells chimed like the after-dinner shrill from deranged sirens.

 

Gazed like the God’s at amber and crystal blue boxes

jarred along a shark bitten tail shaped bay

prickled fruit – decaying pomegranate

peeling red flesh inside the opened draining of day. 

 

I travelled on the navy blue albatross

wooden fin splicing through Hellenic water; Triangles in translucent green

reflections from the feverish and mad -

the faces of those who had come before me.

 

Half sunken Byzantium shaped ships

moulded into yellow cliff - Crescendo of beach crickets surfing

on the sound buckles of Poseidon wrists,

I swam in the strong currents – mangled in storms

 

Tumbling through rotten ship masts

lined with dead pine trees; My lungs filled with salt

while white snappers nibbled at my blue flesh,

my limp body awakened and dragged to the surface of a unfamiliar sea.

 

A beautiful woman with olive skin and tarantula coloured hair held me

I peered down into the depths of clear ocean,

noticing she had dolphin heads as human feet

her complexion and breasts as smooth as soft whale skin

 

In an ancient tongue she pointed to the rise of sun

a pink centre of valley -  shining marble from the caves of the nymph;

as I swam closer I saw the chipped face of Odyssey shaped in the marbled mountain

in green cypress print – Inside the cave Penelope weaved her twenty first shroud.