I. Turkish Countryside, December 2000
Minarets point past
Greek, Roman, Christian ruins,
across dry landscapes.
Sun-leathered farmers
till small fields, tend sheep:
ancient agriculture endures.
Olive harvest:
above spread canvas sheets
women shake grey gnarled limbs.
Glowing, ordered orchards:
bare, red-branched apricot trees,
green citrus rows.
Dusty crossroads,
moustached men flag the dolmus
to other villages.
Different views, words, food,
customs; yet curious kids
still stare, grin, chatter.
II. Ramadan/Ramazhan:
Turkey: Ramadan.
Great drum beats reverberate
through sleeping houses.
Ramazhan drummers
chant along night streets for coins,
lamplit circles throb.
BOOM! Pre-dawn drums
shatter holy sleep. Prayers
uttered, dark breakfast time.
Day’s empty food stalls,
quiet markets; queues wait for
evening’s fresh baked loaves.
Turkey: Ramadan.
Bright crescent moon shines over
urgent cooking fires.
III. Priene Daytrip:
High mountainside pines,
great fallen pillars:
Athena’s temple ruins.
Tall fluted stone shafts,
sunwashed ancient marble slabs:
artist sits sketching.
Ferns, moss-covered walls
shine green, water oozing down:
hidden dripping sounds.
Sunset, waiting for
local dolmus minibus:
cold seat on dry stones.
IV. Didyma afternoon:
Unfinished temple,
huge pillars for Apollo,
old well, oracle.
Gigantic pieces,
chunks of dressed granite, carved trim:
monumental steps.
Unassembled stones,
massive fallen marble blocks:
spread, splayed, across fields.
Huge circular cross-sections
dropped like dominoes in
some immense match!
Flat ancient terrace, smooth
surface scratched, marked by lines of
an unknown board game.
Two giant columns stand:
blackbirds swirl, settle, sleep
like silent Apollo.
V. Trudging Round Troy:
Brown grassy site,
occasional tourists stroll
over dirt silent dig.
Layers upon levels,
forgotten shards, broken stones,
once cities: Troy.
Rings of earth, roads, ramps,
every pebble history:
quiet archeology.
Weathered war walls, hinting
huge epics . . . how many
thousand years exposed?
Homer’s time of ships:
coastal plains now filled
with alluvial soils.
Amphitheatre speaks:
broken seats, unremembered
dramas, empty space.
