IX The harbour is old, I can not wait any longer neither for the friend who left for the island with the pines nor for the friend who left for the island with the plane trees nor for the friend who left for the open sea. I caress the rusted cannons, I caress the oars that my body will be reborn and decide. The sails only give off the smell of the other storm’s salinity. If I decided to remain alone, I seek the solitude, not this kind of waiting the shattering of my soul on the horizon these lines, these colours, this silence. Stars of the night return me to Odysseus and his anticipation of the dead among the asphodels. When we moored over here among the asphodels we hoped to find the glen that saw the wounded Adonis.
Discarded Items Years and years he collected other people’s discarded stuff, undoubtedly useless to them although perhaps useful to someone else, time and again, he has pondered on this, Thomas, the retired garbage collector, who hasn’t heard any news from his son for the last three years and he knows one day he won’t be able to care for himself anymore, when that day arrives, as it always does, they will discard him in the big bin along with the garbage of the old folks’ home which has been his home now, just to be collected by the lonely and the dedicated mega garbage collector the Almighty Thanatos with his big sickle the unerring cleaner of our fair earth old Thomas too did as he was told, he too followed the societal rules, he too led the life of the donkey, with his short rope tied to a stick in the ground he too never found the strength to stand up and throw a pebble to dare disturb the calm lake waters.
GYPSY Hellenes, chasers of Christians polytheists, leftover relics selected and accounted, you followers of the Nazarene populace guided by priests shout, burn with light, curse oh you, all idolaters. None of you and none other even the most wisest and honorable will ever keep the sunlight bestowed unto you by its rays. In the dark depths of the ocean live some huge cetaceans beyond the light of day, and they see while the sun doesn’t touch them, their bodies do produce their own sun phosphorescence is their foggy sun that spreads a dreamy gleam in the dark depths of the ocean you too live like cetaceans.
Modesty I don’t want anyone to feel the beauty I hide inside me no one can come near it without hurting it. I have a bloomed lily inside me without any shadow on its face it has never longed for lust nor ever anyone has kissed it. I have inside me a rose that balances on its own flame and as a holocaust it keeps silent and blesses. I have inside me an ambivalent daisy with its ever agreeing heart that sways in its loneliness and adorns its own beauty and I have other symbols flowers and others that intoxicate yet the most delicate ones bloom only in their imagination. The beauty I hide inside me no one ever will feel if one hurts it a fool he’d be and he won’t even regret it.
Trying to remember everything that Tanya had taught him about reining in the last two months, Joel quietly walked the big buckskin into the arena and took his position just outside of the end gate. After nodding to the judge, he began his run into the show pen. He could not remember feeling so nervous, but he knew that he couldn’t let that get in his way. He needed to focus on everything that Tanya had taught him. Sure, he wasn’t on a 100,000-dollar horse and, sure, he wasn’t accompanied by his own cheering section, but he had a good horse and had worked hard to learn everything he could. He had put a lot of miles on the buckskin, not only in the training arena, but also out in the wide-open spaces, and if anyone was going to get a great performance out of this horse, Joel knew that would be him. Besides, if they were going to take full advantage of the quality breeding in their horses, it would sure help to get a few nice wins on the three-year-olds—the buckskin and the palomino had shown them enough to earn the right to be there. Leaving these thoughts behind, Joel ran the buckskin through the gate and accelerated into the middle of the arena. With an incredible blast of raw acceleration and a long run down, the buckskin executed an awesome sliding stop that went on so far that it looked like the horse was gliding on Teflon. Once the buckskin came to a stop, Joel reined the horse to the left, ran him back down the arena, and executed another excellent sliding stop, which hurled dirt into the faces of the crowd standing at the fence. Joel rolled the horse back to the right, quickly moving him at a gallop past center, and then cued him to stop. This third sliding stop was immediately followed by a quick reverse to center with the horse backing effortlessly. Joel and the buckskin had everyone’s attention—the buzz of the crowd had quieted and all eyes focused on the horse and rider. At the center of the arena, Joel waited for a few seconds to allow the buckskin to rest and Joel to calm himself. Then, with a gentle shift of the reins, Joel asked for the gelding to spin. With a burst of energy, the buckskin executed four spins to the right
He dialed Rebecca’s number first. Her pleasant voice delighted him when she answered. It was a voice Eteo likened to a mixture of honey and birdsong, both of which he loved. “Would you be able to drop by for a few minutes, Eteo?” she asked. “The annual report for Redama Resources is ready. Come and have a look at it, and let’s make sure we haven’t forgotten anything.” Rebecca always consulted him before she filed reports on Redama with the regulators and other authorities. Eteo had brought this file to her and she regarded him as the guiding force behind the company, whose directors, two engineers with little financial background between them, didn’t know much about these filings. Eteo had seen many over the years and knew how to peruse them quickly. “I could come anytime, Rebecca. How is your own schedule?” “I’m free for the next hour. Could you come over now?” As usual Eteo had hardly anything to do by this point in his day. He would have left in half an hour anyway, so he confirmed that he would walk over soon. It was only two blocks down to the 1177 West Hastings tower and a quick elevator ride up to the 21st floor where the Horton and Musgrave offices were located. Ten minutes later, after telling Helena where he was going and that he would not be back that day, he was sitting at Horton and Musgrave’s reception. He only had to wait a minute before Rebecca appeared and extended her hand, which Eteo squeezed warmly and held perhaps a moment longer than would have been customary between business colleagues. Rebecca told the receptionist to hold her calls and took Eteo to her office. He sat down opposite her and she handed over the file. It took Eteo only a couple of minutes to be satisfied that everything that needed to be said was there. When he handed the papers back he noticed that Rebecca’s hand felt hot and sweaty, and when he got up to leave, she gave him her hand again. He pulled her closer and found no resistance at all. Instead Rebecca almost fell into his arms and returned his deep kiss with equal passion. Her breathing became fast and excited and Eteo felt his groin’s hot desire for the body of this attractive young lawyer, who was exploring his mouth with her tongue and obviously eager for more and more of him. His hands ran down her delicate body to her buttocks,
Image Like an ancient repeatedly hymned sin your body that I crave to re-explore gleams in my mind like that first time under the shade of the olive tree jealous, sophisticated, eternal wisdom staring and softly whispering yes, yes
Fellow Traveller in Melancholy As she realized how much my tragic love for her overtook my heart, she invited me, among the ruins of the London Tower, for a cup of tea from the same hands, named by the killers of her lovers, depending on the season, sometimes “shovels”, other times “shiners”. She accompanied her offer with the only word she had kept inside her for years like something precious, she said, more than her life, like a secret gift of her breasts in the tempest of my lust. I raised my eyes and looked, as an unexpected shiver shook my body: she was naked before the year’s fountain, the fans of a nighty fire sprouted out of her belly and the wall was splattered with blood. I felt that the famous, “better tomorrow” had arrived, was a present reality. It was obvious that everything from the past was already erased, the nightmare of the tropics and the harbour had already vanished. I was a gigantic red eagle that saw, from a young age, the closing eyes of the opposite sun. She was the big, dark forest spread among the chandeliers, the chest and the big hallway mirror used for official palace events. Her thought was crown, her glance renaissance, her glance a beak. Her name was Rodamne. She had lived in faraway lands from where she had come to meet me. I told her I freaked out, thinking we hadn’t met earlier. How could she have, via the measure of the beautiful woman she was, replaced her eyes with two green Egyptian scarabs and she didn’t see me when I passed her? She had probably cut her long hair short so that the words that escaped from my mouth were one cathedral church built, for the only purpose of executing at the site and a specific moment, the unknown archbishop, and seller of small items, from an irregular Mexican squad. She didn’t talk, she didn’t stir, she only took in her embrace the flowers that decorated the room and scattered them in the fresh ravines, in orchards with the delayed hunter, at the foothills of the Memories Mountains. The candles burned joyously on the graceful bronze candelabras and the song she sang teary-eyed had the same meaning with the phrase “time for Shaba” in the Hebrew neighbourhoods of Thessaly cities.
“Merciful heaven! I told her we could pray but not that we should go anywhere. That is absurd.” “It seemed to me that she enjoyed getting him all worked up.” “And he believed her?” “You would have to ask him, padrecito. After that, he was all over her, but she was letting him have it. She pushed him off and left. He stayed there puffing like a mad bull.” “And what happened then?” “He consoled himself with an Indian girl, what else?” “You mean he forced himself upon an Indian girl?” “I do not think those breasts I saw belonged to a man, no.” “And you watched?” He shrugged. “Why not?” Benjamin put his shoes back on and rolled onto all fours to stand up. I was agitated. I didn’t know what to say or do. So I reverted to my priestly ways. “I expect your confession, you hear?” “Ha, padrecito. You would do better to ask that of some others. The men are talking. Some of them do not like Losada’s peaceful manners. There is trouble brewing. They think we should teach the Indians to fear us first and then talk about friendship. They say Losada is too old for this, that he should never have been chosen for the expedition to start with.” “But we have come farther than the three previous expeditions.” “I know. It would be like criticizing Bartolomé after he got us through the storm. I am just telling you what is going on. Do you think we should inform the captain about this?” “How serious is it? Was it just a casual conversation, or was it more like a conspiracy? Who was talking?” “Infante, Giral y Coscorrillo.” “So, the only man of any importance was Infante?” “This time, yes.” I was disturbed by both these revelations from Benjamin, and I didn’t know what I must do about either.
Darkness in Brightness So much light at high noon Girls on towels sunbathe heads down eyes shut merciless glare And you sit by the rocks so much darkness in the thoughts that haunt you They always laugh at you They always ignore you If you had a gun You would shoot them
Manolis Aligizakis 