for Shaip Emerllahu
Tetovë, Macedonia
2004

ALONG THE RIVER

an intense fog incinerates the air
sky and earth on fire
in an impenetrable gray appetite
swallowing stone and street
i gather my bearings from the echoes
of voices clanging off each other
from all directions i step
weightless and spinning
something brushes my leg
my feet the sky
                my head the earth
something brushes my shoulder
a silhouette of a bicycle
ridden by a
i don’t want to say
for fear of saying i’m one of them
 

AND IN THE MIDDLE OF SAYING

this is where i am this is where i live
my voice takes on an intonation
of somehow being unsure
almost lost in itself in such open space
i can’t tell you how i know what that means
this short moment leading nowhere
sought

* shetiti dhe mendoj: to walk and to dream.