Dusk colours the uneven stairs.
I stand on the wooden steps and look around,
the distant sea hidden
behind ancient, towering trees.
I imagine waves
moving fishermen’s boats,
the smell of salmon and tuna
wrapped in seaweed.
Sushi restaurants abound
on the winding streets
of this port town,
tiny gems behind indigo curtains.
Now I climb
the steps two at a time.
At last, I reach the Shiogama Shrine
structures […]
An indigo sky pours moonbeams
over my naked body.
I soak in midnight baths,
avoid curious stares at my full breasts,
my desert dune hips, my olive skin.
The Mediterranean Sea in my bones
ripples as an unexpected body
sinks in the hot spring.
I glance at the folded skin.
Gomen nasai, a woman’s voice cracks.
She gets out quickly but I insist,
It’s okay. […]
The sea moved in waves
small and large
walking along a winding path
I passed a woman
grooves engraved in her skin
a scarf
grazing her wrinkled forehead
She stopped her work
the smoke from the bonfire clouding her way
but she still smiled and bowed
Ohayo gozaimasu
Ohayo gozaimasu
We exchanged
on a route, abandoned and old,
the sea its companion
the students and teachers sent to an ancient […]
Silhouettes of olive branches darken
the pale walls in a tavern along the mountain
she sits with a glass of arak,
liquor, water, ice cubes mixed together
the only customer in this village restaurant
A belly dancer shakes her hips at the woman,
colourful beads sway around her waist;
the dancer drops a veil down the woman’s back,
pulls it around her shoulders
It […]
