Ciudadela, 1991
Under the stretched skin of the houses,
under the whitewash
facing the sharp sun over the rocks,
under the sheet binding the jawbone
the dreams are obscured.
The televisions are off
like cagebirds with blankets over them.
Wakers turn to reach
familiar points
of reassurance and pleasure
where they are to be found.
Aimless hymns are gathered into the sky
from streets deep in shadow
where the smell of the baker
and the early bicycles remain.
The first components of the town's
prayer of noise under the sun
are cocks and mopeds and the secret
plume of a fart under the sheet.
At eleven the sun holds my head
in its grip,
a thing detached in its lap:
there is no comfort of reference
in the quickness of the lizard
or the sardine or even the bells.
Take me in, to the upturned boat
of stone on the horizon,
the fresh breeze, the thanks of green
in the glaciated valley,
the hand on me of that.
By one, the fish are a triumph,
running through the glades.
I watch them till the water
rises in my mask,
the little schools that graze
and synchronise, dart
arid flock in the grainy diminished light.
The sun's a watery ripple
on the surface of the ceiling at four.
Street voices surround me like cold air.
The ceiling fan draws me up.
Blue-white legs have stirred the plaster
and are propelled out of vision;
their scrotum or light-bulb
is a towed anchor.
Dusk: a man disgorged safely
on the sand, if he can find the right sea.
The rhythm of the other sea in the shallows
does the moon's breathing.
A couple are up to their shoulders
in the bay: the other sea
explores their limbs
fast together
as tongues in secret explore each other .
Page(s) 19
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