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.

Patricia Neculae

Michael Curtis

Port sigur

1

L-a invatat devreme, acel zambet,

folosit de lumea intreaga

sa impace si sa convinga.

L-a exersat in fiecare dimineata,

si-a linistit copiii,

si-a educat sotul sa se poarte frumos,

l-a trimis inaintea ei in fiecare seara

intr-o incapere cu barbati razand,

l-a invatat cum sa castige bacsis la bar,

l-a lasat sa i se risipeasca de pe buze

inspre pometi inaltati si barbia incordata,

i-a colorat vorbirea in alb si rosu,

s-a folosit de el cu nepasare,

i-a permis sa se joace cu o suvita de par,

s-a uitat de doua ori la strainul de la masa din colt,

pana cand nopti avide

i l-au sters de pe chipul retusat

si i l-au furat din privire

2

Asa ca in aceasta noapte

lumina

ii va fi rapita din ochi

si zambetul

candva gasit cu usurinta

cand aprindeam lumanarile de pe masa noastra

ii ia zece secunde pana se formeaza

cand se indreapta inspre masa noastra

din camera din spate.

Lunga ei vara plina de aventuri

s-a oprit in august

istovita ca iarna,

si acum trebuie sa-si continue drumul

printr-un vis de nepatruns

ce nu are scapare

3

Ca visul

pe care l-ai uitat pana dimineata

dar care nu te uita,

fiul tau mort, tatal tau murind din nou, cosmarul

ce atarna greu in spatele ochilor

care se intuneca desi e soare, desi

lampa lumineaza, desi iubirea a fost reinviata, iar vocea de la telefon din seara aceea

nu poate fi adevarata, vederea

de pe plaja unei insule din Thailanda,

data neclara, cu siguranta a fost cenzurata e-mailul confirmandu-i sosirea

neadevarat, si singurul lucru

care poate sa inlature indoiala

este un alt vis pe jumatate uitat,

nedorit, involuntar, dar de data asta suportabil

4

Ca un catamaran fara greutate

ce aluneca printre focurile nenumarate

care sting si lumineaza marea calda

la caderea diminetii

menita sa iti ia vederea

si sa alunge umbra norilor

in timp ce darele vremelnice ale iahturilor

se dezvaluie ca sa-si incerce norocul

si-si potolesc nelinistea dezlantuita

fara aparare in fata vantului istovit

motoare surde rotindu-se catre soare

in timp ce echipaje plutesc intre vieti

5

Ca noi peste sarea vietii,

inotand pe marea involburata

scaldandu-ne sub razele soarelui

imbratisand umbra de sub pini,

dezbarat de forma, redus la o linie

asa ca recunoasterea acopera deghizarea,

si vrabiile ciugulesc dunele

si muste de nisip zboara deasupra nisipului,

si urmam instructiunile

ascunse de paznicii granitei

care le iau drept harti

pictate pe sticla argintata de moarte,

si aici ne vom gasi calea

in timp ce hidrobiciclete transporta familii de cate cinci

saltelele stau desumflate la amiaza

si ziua straluceste in straluciri de zi,

sa navigam printre nori

si sa ne imaginam la lumina

pana dam de zambetele

care nu negociaza decat cu zambete.