Michael Curtis

Safe Harbour

1

She learned it early, that smile,

used the world over

to placate and to persuade.

She exercised it each morning,

quietened her children,

schooled her husband to good behaviour,

sent it before her each evening

into a room of laughing men,

taught it to earn tips at the bar,

let it spread from her mouth

to raised cheeks and tightened jaw,

coloured her talk with whites and reds,

employed it carelessly,

allowed it to play with a strand of hair,

look twice at the stranger at the corner table,

until insatiable nights

wiped it from her perfected face

and stole it from her eyes

2

So tonight

all the light

is robbed from her eyes

and the smile

once found with ease

when lighting our candle

takes ten seconds to compose

as she walks to our table

from the back room.

Her long peppered summer

has fetched up in August

weary as winter,

and now she must keep on walking

through an unbreakable dream

that brings no escaping

3

Like the dream

you’ve forgotten by morning

but doesn’t forget you,

your son dead, your father dying again,

the nightmare

that lies heavy behind eyes

that cloud for hours despite sunshine,

lamplight or even awakened love,

so the voice on the phone that evening

cannot be believed, the postcard

from the island beach in Thailand,

date smudged, must have been censored,

the e-mail confirming her arrival

forged, and the only thing

that can burn off the doubt

is another half-remembered dream,

unwilled, involuntary, but this time light

4

As the weightless catamaran

that straddles the countless fires

extinguishing and lighting the warm sea

on a risen morning

resolved to dazzle eyes

and burn off all effects of clouds

while the brief wakes of yachts

break cover to take their chance

and slake untethered restlessness

unsheeted at the exhausted wind

muffled engines screwing to the sun

as crews float between lives

5

Like us upon the salt of life,

swimming on the writhing sea

bathing in the showered sun

hugging shade beneath the pines,

purged of form, reduced to line

so recognition sheds disguise,

and sparrows peck at sparrow dunes

and sand flies fly across the sand,

and we follow the directions

concealed from the border guards

who only mistake them for maps

painted on glass quicksilvered by death,

and here we’ll find our way

while pedalos pedal families of five

lilos lie low in the afternoon

and the day glows in dayglows,

navigate a route through clouds

and imagine ourselves to light

until we settle to the smiles

that trade in nothing but themselves.

Ionela Maria Adam

Michael Curtis

La adapost sigur

1

A invatat devreme zambetul ala,

Folosit pretutindeni,

Pentru a convinge si determina.

Il exersa in fiecare dimineata,

Linistindu-si copii,

Invatadu-si sotul sa se poarte civilizat,

il folosea in fiecare seara

Intr-o camera cu barbati binedispusi,

l-a invatat sa castige bacsis la bar,

lasat sa-i iasa din gura

cu obrajii ridicati si maxilarul intins

ii colora discursul in alb si rosu,

afisat nepasator,

lasat sa se joace cu o suvita de par,

sa se uite de doua ori la strainul de la masa din colt,

pana cand noptile nesatioase

i l-au sters de pe fata perfecta

si i l-a furat din ochi

2

Asa ca, in seara asta

toata lumina

ii este furata din ochi

si zambetul

odinioara asa usor de gasit

cand aprindeai lumanarea

acum ii trebuie zece secunde pentru a se forma

in timp ce vine inspre masa noastra

din camera din spate.

Vara ei fierbinte

s-a terminat in august

la fel de rece ca iarna,

si acum trebuie sa continue sa mearga

printr-un vis de nepatruns

care nu aduce nici o scapare

3

La fel ca si visul

Pe care l-ai uitat pana dimineata

Dar care nu te uita,

Fiul tau mort, tatal tau murind din nou, cosmarul

care mocneste in spatele ochilor

care se intuneca pentru ore, in pofida soarelui,

lumina lampii pana si iubirea trezita,

si vocea de la telefon din seara aceea

nu poate fi crezuta, cartea postala

de pe plaja din Thailanda,

data mazgalita, trebuie ca a fost cenzurata, e-mail-ul confirmandu-i sosirea

falsificat, si singurul lucru

care poate inlatura indoiala

este inca un vis pe jumatate amintit, nemostenit, involuntar, dar de data asta linistit

4

Si catamarul usor

care pluteste deasupra nenumaratelor focuri potolind si luminand marea calda

intr-o dimineata

aparuta in fata unor ochi uimiti

si indepartand umbrele facute de nori

in timp ce trezirea rapida a yacht-urilor

se demasca pentru a–si incerca norocul

si potolind nelinistea neinlantuita

fara acoperis in fata vantului dezlantuit motoare infasurate indreptandu-se spre soare in timp ce echipaje plutesc printre vieti

5

La fel ca noi cu sarea si piperul vietii,

inotand in marea involburata

scaldandu-se in soarele spalat

facand umbra pe sub pini,

fara forma, redus la linii

in asa fel incat nu poate fi recunoscut,

si randunicile lovesc dunele

si nisipul este spulberat peste nisip,

si noi urmam instructiunile

pe care le-am ascuns de graniceri

care le confunda cu harti

pictate pe sticla argintie a mortii,

si pe aici e drumul nostru

pedaland catre familli cu cinci membrii

stand pe saltele linistite dupa-amiaza

si ziua straluceste in stralucirea zilei,

navigand pe o ruta printre nori

si ne imaginam luminand

pana ne formam zambetele

care nu vand nimic, decat pe ele insele.