Vincent KATZ
AKRAGAS
Coming into town
new place
up on the heights
in morning
look out to sea
but the people
are here
are full of life
and buildings
set into rock
maintain their style
so that in sleep
you occur
in dream
to their beliefs
out to the sea
campi flegrei
back
in the burning
fields
poetry
is written
May
I have been here a long, long time
more than two thousand years
I am finally living here
we are living
I do not need to go anywhere
tomorrow or the next day
I am embedded in this life:
the trees, the smells of nature
at nights
the birds, the insects
the changes in the sky
the barrier-smashing blue
the hints at pink and
deafening golds
and purple at dusk
days on which the mountains
suddenly appear
ringing our existence
with the certitude
of psalm
I have been here
a long, long time
more than two thousand years
ocean
a curve to a point
in rocks
glitters in patterns
on water
island low strips
across
one side distant hump
shifting blues
the other opens ahead
in flickers
to where you want
to go
the day
i.
i'm enjoying this
season
savor
morning
bird
swoop
slowly
day gets off its back
ii.
the day does
nothing
to mark its
presence
no
measure
no
heightening
shadow
of
tree
on
tree