Dry Mouth
Fasting is not necessary, he said. I chewed my saliva,
ripped the bed sheet, knocked at the door, smelled
the wall, waited in the hallway, out of the stoa, and I stood
in the road. The night was falling late, later than the void
between two hands. The bus arrived, and all five of them
disembarked together. The woman’s kerchief fell.
The lights were still on; the ticket collector had long hair,
tickets, two drachma coins, and his secrets. The spotlight
hit the man with the black suit, who was coming from
the other side, the man I didn’t expect, yet he had my hat on
and held a basket with yellow apples.
Manolis Aligizakis 