Friday, September 21, 2012

A NIGHT IN THE VILLAGE - for Sonia

In 1982 Sonia and I went to Greece.  We spent a few days in her hometown.  I wrote this poem then, which I dedicated to her and is included in my collection Mapmaker Revisited.  I also dedicated the book to her.  She always found it funny and used to say: "Someday people will think we were lovers or something."  We were best friends.  I want to share it here again:


A NIGHT IN THE VILLAGE
                                                  for Sonia

salima said "the night is blue" but
here nights are black stars hang
from the sky like pearls around
an african woman's neck

when the moon's full we sit on
the balcony weaving dreams with words:
                        embroidery of cotton and silk
                        beads with opals, rubies for passion
the darkness blends our souls:
                        we become one with the moon

trees and old houses draw shadows
on the mountainside   crickets keep
us awake wounding a silence
as thick as plum

when the moon is new we count
the stars   try to guess their names  you
know the big dipper   i see it now too
the air is a knife's edge cutting through
                        our skins
                        our words
and we become many like the stars

one night in the village we became
all the women who've ever shared their lives
from the beginning of time


           


2 comments:

  1. ...still so hard to believe. I keep thinking Sonia will pop in and the nightmare will be over...

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  2. Absolutely impossible to believe. Need to write more.

    ReplyDelete