The Casbah stall is just like it was
so long ago when my eyes were filled
with colour, the blue of a crystal dusk.
Fingertips caked with dust
and coffee, they swept across
the cool carpets, so many I can’t choose.
Your peaceful face
so natural, as you rummage
through a basket of zills
trying to find the notes
to match the symphony
of ringing glass chimes; cresting.
He was carrying a beautiful curtain of small bottles in red and blue and violet.
In the change
of that moment, a shot
and me holding his head
from underneath
the carpet, with dark
spots of red, spreading, in my lap.
I exhale a quiet scream;
and the air became
filled with mint tea
and black khol
that became violet;
wet and grainy.
Fingering the carpet’s sticky silk knots, I wondered if the maker was loved.
That night
my palms opened
waiting to touch you
but my ribs rattled like
hollow chimes, so
you swallowed the sorrow
of my heart;
squeezed by your
strong hands
as I poured over you
so we could be free
once again.
And, if I recall, when it was all over, we gazed so hard at the grey sky and longed for the snowy, white mountains of home.
Posted for dVerse Open Link Night #60 at www.dversepoets.com
Eva Von Pelt 
Really a beautiful poem – intoxicating atmosphere – colors and smells and sounds of the Kasbah melted with the steamed and heated bodies and minds – reminds me of Fez, Marrakesh and other places in Morocco – well done Eva!!
Thank you so much for your visit and kind words, Edjo! So happy you could feel these amazing places from reading this.
WOW..i could literally feel the heat reading this though it’s cold and autumnly rainy here..such a sensual rollercoaster of colors, sounds and emotions! you create the brightest poetic universes within your words, absolutely mesmerizing and haunting. i’m so so happy to read the new one from you, and for some reason this is just what i needed today. i’ll surely return to re-read such beauty..thank you from the depth of my heart, Eva~
Thank you so much, Yelena!
Your comments have come at just the right time and I’m so grateful to have you as a reader 🙂
Hopefully, it won’t be another three months before my next post, lol…
Thanks, again!
So wonderful to see you posting again and continuing this intriguing journey into what Yelena rightly calls your ‘brightest poetic universe’. I have not been to Morocco but Egypt and Jordan and your poem transported me. I know well the ‘snowy white mountains of home’ so this poem has wended a path into my inner being. I will definitely be revisiting it. Thank you!
Thank you for all your kind words, Anna. I especially appreciate your visit because I know you are working hard on your publication that will out soon (I look so forward to getting my copy)!
So lovely to see you and thanks again 🙂
wow nice intensity to this…i love your structure with the longer lines breaking into the story of in…ribs rattling like hollow chimes…i like…the stanza on the shot and holding him…oy…df intense through there….nice piece…
Thanks so much, Brian! : ))
Wow, this really hit me… I wanted to cry. Great writing.
Gosh, thank you! Glad it was so vivid ; )
Evocative play with the sensuality of the location
Thank you, John…really appreciate your comments’
The whole piece feels crafted out, mortar and pestle…. Tangible and loving and the middle segment especially is so palpably THERE… fine write
Thanks so much, Brian!
Thank you, this is beautiful! I have not read anything from you for a long while. I like it n I’m a novice, but liked it when I started. It’s elegant n mystifying at once.
Thank you!! I’m quite a novice myself, so I really appeciate your comments : )
This is lovely painting of words …I specially like:
but my ribs rattled like
hollow chimes, so
you swallowed the sorrow
Great to see you again 🙂
Hello Heaven!! Thank you do much and so lovely to see you my sweet sister xox
I vividly remember part one but snuck back for a re-read . . .
again i am reminded of the dry heat of a Camusvian
landscape as i read into the piece and find the well shaped
scope of your poetic arc . . . most excellent Eva – great to be reading you again 😀
So nice to see you, apshilling!! Thank you for your visits and wonderful observations; they are most encouraging 🙂
a beautiful poem, the images you draw, the sadness of it…all wonderfully composed.
Thank you, Mohana!
Evocative and beautiful writing…lovely to read your poetry again 🙂
Thank you, dear Louise! I’m grateful for your visit and commments 🙂
Exotic, sensual, and beautifully crafted poem, ….and haunting…so that I’ll be back for a reread :))
Jacquie, I really appreaciate your visit and comments. I so enjoy your writing 🙂
Beauty walks in your words..blessed poet..
Wow, thank you, Steve. I’m humbled by your lovely comments and nice to see you 🙂
There is so much feeling and emotion in this – and atmosphere – with a story as well. It makes me shiver, and want to read more.
Thanks for commenting on my work too – I suspect I don’t quite have your discipline and patience and often publish too much.
Thank you, Matthew! Discipline? Gosh, I wish I had some (and time) to sit down and write! I’m always enjoy getting your poems in my email box!
exotic and rich in imagery, and dark. like a good espresso, to be sipped. love the last few verses especially.
Thank you for your visit and comment, Joanna 🙂 Oh, I do love an espresso (actually having a double at the moment..haaa) and appreciate that analogy!
It’s almost as though one reads another’s memories through the exotic objects represented here. It’s a sensuous poem, like strong perfume.
Hi, Mark. I enjoy writing about memory and time, both of which I find facinating. Thank you for visit and lovely commments.