After Landing in Lisbon
Becoming our own barren children
tourist clans magnify the customs lines.
Becoming our own confused apprentices
we exit. We are the daylight gleaming
against white tiles. Becoming the future
children climb cobblestone hills,
two steps at a time
while breathing, litered air. Becoming
a castle against blue sky, marble stones
etch the horizon becoming
a puzzle. The past hides
our present thoughts, but we will find
our future. In respect of statues
we bow to them.
In respect of the fountains, they
kiss our cheeks. In respect of the
buildings falling apart,
the earth shook long ago
by the bonfire in its center.
The god swaddling his favorite angel screamed.
In respect of the stairways
a harsh climb is incapable of
reaching heaven’s hem.
In Fado music, all hope is done.
The fish are often swimming
along the smile of the shore.
KATERINA CANYON is the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Sunland-Tujunga, California. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Meniscus, and Black Napkin and will be in forthcoming issues of Waxing and Waning, The Feelings Journal, and The Esthetic Apostle. Her recent book, Changing the Lines, is currently available online and in stores. She lives in Seattle, Washington.
Twyckenham Notes 