(Solun/Солун/Salonika/Thessaloniki/ Θεσσαλονίκη/ Saloniki/Selaniku/Selanik)
This place has another story
beyond prologue and epilogue
in the seams, extras of history
waiting to be cast
in the shadow of the white tower
a subtext looms in the libretto of enosis
“врба ми изникнала, врба ми изникнала
врба ми изникнала во Солунско поле”
a lament as ubiquitous as church incense
fall and conquer of empires
in the splash down
of victim narratives even by victors
A drive to Yedi Kule
old ottoman prison
mortar primed with suffering
in the adjoining field
amongst springy grass
lie tombstones
Jewish and Muslim
beheaded graves
the indignation palpable
dissociative pieces that just don’t fit
white gloved hands
show me a collection
black and white photographs
clicked proofs of
people waiting
an unpublished history
How strange this city feels
I immerse myself but cannot read the words
a fiction of struggles and glory
invasions, collapse, exodus
I pick the lint off my t-shirt
with precision
Families gather in summer evening
by the water’s edge
I breathe the Aegean
walk the pavement
into the call of vendors
the smell of roasting corn
notes:
- enosis – union in Greek .”Union”,the union of Cyprus with Greece. “For the Greek Orthodox Church, enosis means the ‘restoration of the Empire of Byzantium’ which includes Cyprus”.
- Fragment of a Macedonian folksong from Aegean Macedonia – Врба ми изникнала/The willow has sprouted
The willow has sprouted (x2)
In the valley of Salonika (x2)