Kalymnos: November 29, 1968
By Robert Lax
1
pavlos
looking out
to sea
explains:
son costa,
20, will be
coming home
went with a
sponge caiqui
to nearby
island
a storm
came up:
the boat
was smashed
& sunk
the boys
all got
ashore
& will be
coming home
in another
caiqui
2
late at
night
i saw
them
costa &
the others
they’d saved
the sponges
too
unloaded them
first
in burlap
bags
then hoisted
them onto
their backs
trotted up
the stone
steps
plodded up
a steep
hill
at mid-
night
mid-
night
to the
store-
house
3
at 5
in the
morning
at the
cafeneion
the captain
described
the wreck:
the boat
had turned
over &
over
in the
water
churning it
like a
propell-
er
4
costa
went by
later
on his
motor-
cycle
(tall &
sombre)
riding
like an
indian
5
spiro
(young
gypsy)
fishes
off the
dock
when he
isn’t
climbing
hills
& selling
blankets
6
what can
you do?
i get
bored
around
the house
the children
crying
fighting
can’t sit
all day
in the
cafeneion
so i
fish
7
after an
hour
he rolls
in his
lines
teaches
me two
words
in the
romany
tongue
for ‘no
fish’
(in the
plural)
8
pat
mos
pat
mos
an
gels
an
gels
kaly
mnos
kaly
mnos
men
kaly
mnos
kaly
mnos
men
pat
mos
pat
mos
an
gels
an
gels
kaly
mnos
kaly
mnos
men
9
stergo
has a
tired
eye
bright
but
weary
when he
looks
at you
he looks
into
you
his eye
takes
the place
of what-
ever
you were
think-
ing
10
his café
is near
the customs
house
(& the
pier)
he keeps
it open
till late
at night
& opens
again
at 5 in
the morn-
ing
if ever
his cus-
tomers
find it
closed
they walk
right by
(& won’t
drink
coffee
anyplace
else)
11
in the
endless
city
the end-
less city
the beg-
gars are
in one
place
the cops
in an-
other
the fine
people
here
& the
poor
people
there
(each has
his parish
each his
precinct)
in the endless
endless
endless
city
Copyright Credit: This poem appears courtesy of the Robert Lax Literary Trust, the Robert Lax Archives at St. Bonaventure University, and Paul Spaeth, archivist.
Source: Poetry (December 2015)