diamonds on icecream

i flew to istanbul backward from bangladesh

i circumnavigated the globe

stopped in bahrain, mingled with turbaned men and draped women

watched the desert hot hot heat on the tawny fawn land

the arabian sea glowed blue, an unruly blue,

mottled with tortoiseshell fluctuations of color,

lumps of oil lifting up from underwater,

laced with slick traces.

i lifted into the air, watched the sea leave me

and flew to my first city

the intercontinental-bridge city

the home of the golden horn

the galata tower, the bosphorous,

dolmabahce palace,

gypsy christmas,

twenty million people

and one gold-fisted graffiti artist.

istanbul at the edges

and the center of the world.