Guest Poet Miguel Sanchez
octopus
i am on vacation
an octopus is on my plate
a fisherman is crying
and explaining how this came to be
the ouzo is cloudy
the night is clear
graves are emptied
to make room for new
goats and sheep
like church bells
on the sunset hill
the toilet is breathing
like it was sleeping
outside in the dark wind
a pair of octopi drying
the breath of an octopus
the tear of a fisherman
water
and
air
breathe in
breathe out
my food was alive
so i am not dead
the toilet is breathing
full of life
never refused by the sea
a fisherman's tears
where the future swims
turqoise to black and back again
and again
you are walking on my castle
im buried in your dreams
one day the ocean will have waved
and the water will have fell
the toilet knows,
sleeping,
breathing in,
the last breath of an octopus.
November, 2001
Miguel Sanchez's questions:
Octopus was written on a greek island called antiparos.
My questions are what does it seem to be about?
How does the rythmn work
and is it too sparse?
I wanted to paint a picture, something beautiful
and ugly at the same time. I wanted to create feelings with the images
and would be curious to know how the readers felt, providing they didnt
have trouble following it.
I dont want to explain to anyone what it is
about to me.
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