01/19/2007

for Penelope and Odysseus

Let's switch roles.

You are the piece of rock, the land, the island; the gulls and planes circle around your beacons but never touch down; and the fruit falls, always west, in your direction.

I am the cord let loose, the balloon that travels on the winds and circles the tops of the temples, the one who sees your tears as I retract into the seas above you.

Isaac de Bankolé

I run toward your Côte d'Ivoire
with blackened heart
and fingertips.

Looking for man-made harbours,
I run toward your slanted beach
and find nothing but palms in your hands.

The beach is like a stingray
and so we float, sails in our hair and
rudders the length of our feet,

along the strand.