“Where can a blind man go who is pursued by bees?” Pablo Neruda
He knows not to go in the clover patch. He can smell its sweetness and cannot enter. His forgotten place he longs for— along the shore of the Mediterranean with wind moving in his hair.
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dVerse prompt on questioning in poetry. Answering Neruda.
“Where can you find a bell that can ring in your dreams?” Pablo Neruda
Is there a water clock of life? The time goes on in dream and in your day so who can say what force drives you on? Is it the passage of time or in that moment when there is no time?
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dVerse prompt to build on a question. Just saw a water clock in Agora Athens so wondering about how water was used to drive time forward by hydraulics.
Just be aware
of the pickpockets
in Athens
on the train
people in front of the doors
that won’t open
now a hand has unzipped
a purse and wallet coming out
caught in the act
thieves working
planned target
move away unsuccessful
A purse is left
at Fortaleza de Sagres
in Portugal
when realized
you run back to where it is
a man sees you running
follows and speaking French
tells you that his wife
has found your bag
you can speak French
bag returned
new friends from Paris
Plumes of ash
hot rocks under foot
we climb up to Mt Etna
no earthquake today
the air quivers with sound
of explosions underground
vent and spew on your own time
change can come quickly
expect the expectable
in a world of the predictable
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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille using the word quiver. Went to Mt Etna, an active volcano in Sicily.
Bell towers all chiming at the same time
noontime
terra cotta rooftops
Ionian Sea in the distance
chime of 12– pause then 1
it is 12:15 now
my children took a last walk
to the elephant square
and I am writing poetry about Catania
earthquakes and volcanoes
can’t stop her
she pulls the good from the destruction
“Black City” where the bricks and tiles
are made from lava stone
everyone waits for the next big eruption
“Not today,” they say, “not today.”
In Sicily
smoking volcano
remember the day
we walked Pompeii’s narrow streets
souvenir of what happened
nature unleashed
In Albania
we visit the Jonathon Center
dance with the children
who are celebrating a birthday
This is the house where Mother Teresa’s mother
and sister lived during Communism
Mother Teresa was not allowed into the country
they said she was a spy
When Communism fall in Albania
Mother Teresa returned
put flowers of forgiveness on the grave
of the dictator and then went to her mother’s grave
When her mother was living
people would have coffee with her
they could not talk about God
there was no God in Albania
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stories from Albania
