ITALY

Hurtling across town
across this dusty village
my mind seeks for the words
to explain your absence
Fondness of the heart
its growth is like a tumor
spreading
infecting every corner of my being
A dirty flag
waves in the polluted air
mocking me
with the colors of my descent
On these narrow streets
I find no resolution
to the vertigo in my head
I do not feel lonely here
I feel like I am home
belonging nowhere
except everywhere
The dust is suffocating me
Your absence is suffocating me

July 1999