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