We wait to board the jet - 

When we land, I'll wear tweed - 

In my dreams, I'll walk barefoot - 

Swim in a turquoise sea - 

Dalaman

September 2024 

This moment -

Holding it close - 

The feathery clouds across the sky - 

The smooth limbs of the Eucalyptus tree - 

The brighr air - 

The salt on my skin - 

Akyaka

Sptember 2024

The two sisters -

How they look at each other - 

As though they were in a painting - 

Caught in each other's gaze - 

Akyaka

September 2024

Gentle hours - 

Shade of palm tress -

Bright fish in a quiet sea - 

Akyaka

September 2024

The fish restaurants spilled their light upon the water - 

In Bar Street, girls clasped their boys - 

There was cool jazz in Euphoria -

Marmaris

September 2024

Before each shop window, a languid bravo - 

Gazing at his phone, or at his pristine faux Nikes -

The patron with his tea - 

The Mbappe football shirt - 

Marmaris Bazaar

September 2024

 Sitting in Finca -

A Dorchester sky -

Rain - 

Flat white in a glass -

In my head, a memory of palm trees - 

Dream shapes - 

The night cafe - 

The sound of a saxaphone -

Dorchester - Marmaris

September/October 2024

We came here, as we would last year - 

Towels still wet, asking for chai - 

 

Nothing had changed - 

The warm salty wind - 

The blueness of the sky and sea -

The gossiping gendarmes - 

 

 We sat by the empty pool - 

The stroppy Geordie baited his long legged girlfriend - 

A gentle nana smoked a breakfast cigarette -

The Fidan

Marmaris

September 2024

 When I saw the yacht, I thought of the Irish girl -

How we flew before the Bora -

The necklessof islands -

The starlight on the sea - 

Lycian coast

September 2024 

 The two sisters looked at carpets- 

The patron cast his silken net -

Smiled his courtier's smile 

 The pirate boats were mute - 

No tawny girls on their garish decks - 

No daring boys - 

Only their crews smoking Camels. drinking Efes - 

Looking up to see Davy Jones - 

 In a moment, Jane would ask for tavuk durum - 

She would take off her hat - 

Let loose her splendid hair - 

We picked our way through seared thron - 

Saw the ruins from the bare hillside - 

The mausolea on the hillside - 

We felt he sorrow of lost names - 

The gentle weight of children's bones - 

The river, looping and curling through the man high reeds - 

The bright boats - 

The shallows where the river meets the sea - 

The lake - 

The groves of pomegranate trees  -

The rock tombs - 

Those dak palaces - 

Those forgotten names - 

Dalyan river

Setpember 2024

Menekse Sokak -

Twilight - 

Air secented by jasmine flowers - 

Akyaka

September 2024

 

 An exquisite cheesecake handed me by a silky bravo - 

Anne wearing her blue linen dress - 

Her long brown legs - 

The taste of lemon on my tongue - 

La Boheme

Dalyan

September 2024

 Waking up under the carved wooden ceiling - 

Throwing back the thin sheet - 

Cool air from the garden through the opened windows - 

Moonlight on fragrant greenery - 

Akyaka

September 2024

 We followed an ancient path to the deep bay - 

Behind us were the mausolea - 

Holly pakscast scant shade on the white stones of the path - 

A seawind carried a gull high above the bay - 

Through the trees, we glimpsed turquoise - 

The tall masts of the gulet, Orhan waiting on the sharp prow - 

Lycian coast

September 2024

 I gazed at the sky after sunset - 

A yacht moored offshore - 

A boy and girl swimming in a spellbound sea - 

Akyaka 

September 2024

 I spread honey on my village bread - 

I remembered the beekeepers - 

The silence, the olive trees - 

How they'd stood, veiled, in a stony field - 

Lycia

September 2024

 The warm night wind against my skin - 

I saw the moon - 

A white fruit hanging from a dark tree - 

Lycian coast 

September 2024

 I bought figs -

I was beguiled by her gentle smile - 

There was no shade amongst the tombs - 

I climbed upwards, above the palaestra - 

I cast a noonday shadow - 

Cicadas sang - 

Kaunos

September 2024

 I remember Eyup Bey - 

Raising his stick in greeting - 

How he lay on his last bed - 

The village women with their voices - 

The photograph if a young man on the wall - 

His folded clothes

Karabortlen - Ferring

September 2024

 Early morning - 

looking up at the white hull - 

Swimming under the prow - 

Hardly stirring the water - 

Air fragrant with pine - 

Each moment as though I were still dreaming - 

Lycian coast

September 2024

 We walked past roofless houses - 

Cruel shadows of prickly pear - 

Cicadas sang amongst the ghosts - 

Kayakoy

September 2024

They swim towards the ladder - 

Grave matrons, calm patriarchs - 

Their clothes placed beneath the salty greenery - 

Kahvalti waiting on an elegant balcony - 

Chai in a delicate glass - 

Olives to melt on the tongue - 

Akyaka 

September 2024

 We felt the silence -

Its weight - 

Far below us, in the gorge, were quick footed goats -

We heard their bells, then the silence fell again -

Walls of rock touched the noon sjy - 

A lizard basked in the archaic light - 

Lycica

September 2024

 Cappuccinos and cherry cake - 

Spanish guitar - 

Lingering here each morning - 

Tall palm trees casting shade - 

The gravelly voice of the handsome bravo -

 Perhaps next year -

Akyaka

September 2024

 Before she swam, Anne sat on the yellow cushions -

Her slim body made my heart race - 

Later, I would see her naked - 

Moonlight tangled in her hair - 

Lycian coast

September 2024

 She kept her art secret - 

Ventured into places with terrible names - 

Saw poems fall from the sky - 

September 2024

 The young marinero looks at Abigail - 

He sleeps on deck, new to the sea - 

In his dreams, she calls to him -

Places her hands on his dark skin -

Lycian coast 

September 2024

 Standing barefoot on the deck - 

A glimmering necklace of lights on the shore - 

A dark silky sea - 

Fethiye

September 2024

Drinking sage tea

We came across a garden in a stony emptiness - 

Took shelter from the sun under kindly greenery - 

I drank sage tea form a glass teardrop - 

Lycia 

September 2024

Listening to Howling Wolf

I listened to Howling Wolf in Sinemateke -

I wore a blue shirt - 

A lean youth served us chai -

His ponytail reached his narrow waist - 

Akyaka

September 2024

Driving to Dalaman

Driving to Dalaman - 

I know these names - 

I know each dry river bed - 

Every bend of the road - 

The mountains - 

The glimpses of the sea - 

I hear your voice again - 

See your strong hands - 

The road turns - 

You are driving me once more to Dalaman - 

Turkey 

September 2024

Funny Valentine

Pat played My Funny Valentine - 

Silky notes before dark - 

I drank a glass of white - 

Walked back with Anne to the poet's house -

We lay naked on the wide bed - 

Dreamed our dreams - 

We were young again - 

Astonished by each other's beauty - 

Akyaka

September 2024

Eating balik ekmek

Eating balik ekmek -

The young waiters like scornful bravos - 

Fiery shards of green chillis to burn my tongue -

Efes to pour into an icy glass - 

Akyaka

September 2024

Each pure note

A cool wind from the sea - 

Lemon trees shading our secret garden - 

Listening to piano music - 

Each pure note from a waking dream - 

Akyaka

September 2024

Volkan's smile

An Americano - 

Eucalyptus trees - 

Volkan's smile - 

He'd danced with Sophie at a village wedding - 

A full moon in the sky - 

The white chairs in a circle - 

These memories - 

Returning like sly guests - 

Lycia

September 2024

Adil in Kirtil

Efes in Kirtil - 

Seeing Adil - 

 My chilled glass - 

The patron in his kingdom - 

Hearing a call to prayer - 

A slender girl wearing a Fenerbahce shirt - 

Kirtil

September 2024

Beguiling us with his stories

He leaned forward, his thin brown body like a twist of rope - 

Gesturing over the village bread - 

A gnarled siren - 

Beguiling us with his stories

Cleopatra's Bath 

September 2024

Gentle scholar

 

Mehmet Varol - 

Writing in your garden - 

Gentle scholar in the wilderness

Candir

September 2024

Nowness on a stony hill

We walked through the olive trees - 

Slender leaves like pale jewels - 

We'd climbed a twisting stair - 

Higher each turn above the bay - 

Finding silence - 

A woman's smile in a gentle garden - 

Nowness on a stony hill - 

Lycia 

September 2024

High above the turquoise bay

 

High above the turquoise bay -

Air scented with resin - 

Ancient sunight - 

Tall pines - 

Salt in my hair - 

Lycia

September 2024

Flying to the edge of the world

 High above the clouds in the white jet -

Half awake, half dreaming - 

Watching the sunset - 

Flying to the edge of the world - 

Above the clouds

September 2024