WINTER 2006

 


Winter 2005-6



Valery Oisteanu

THE ART OF CATCHING A BOAT

To be skilled in the art of catching a boat
Take the traveling bags by the handles
Throw them upstairs to the 3rd floor of a hotel
Small room, legs sticking out the door
Zen of punctuality-early in the morning
Shower together with seasonal workers
Running bags in hand for the boat
Just like catching the last bus
To the Greek port of Rafina
Walk the steps, walk the plank
Hold it straight, balance the weight
The 'Flying Dolphin' is bouncing on top of the waves
Flying over the waters of the Aegean Sea
Skipping over the white crests of the waves
Shaking vigorously, we navigate to Santorini
Ultimate destination point: the island of Crete
Six-thousand-year-old excavations
Fast paced rhythm of the summer time
Grapes drying on the ground
Turning into giant raisins-stafidia
The waters hit the boat with the ferocity of a pirate
The sky is roaring purple; we dare to follow the sound
The last draft of a suicide note is drowning behind us
In the wake of the magic speedboat


Valery Oisteanu is a writer, poet, performer and artist with international flavor. Born in Russia (1943) and educated in Romania, he adopted Dada and Surrealism as a philosophy of art and life. Immigrating to New York City in 1973, he is the author of 10 books of poetry, a book of short poetical fiction and a book of art-essays in progress titled "The Avant-Gods."

 

 

Poetrybay seeks fine poetry, reviews, commentary and essays without restriction in form or content, and reserves first electronic copyright to all work published. All rights to published work revert to the author following publication. All Email submissions should be in body of email text.

To submit poems write to:

PO Box 114 
Northport NY 11768
or email us at 
info@poetrybay.com

send comments to info@poetrybay.com

first electronic copyright 2004 poetrybay. 
all rights revert to authors

website comments to dpb@islandguide.com