Skorda's Seaside Taverna: meteora

Skopelos and Virgin

-by Skorda

Swallow that campari moon
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.

Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.

The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.

Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.

Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

meteora

Ah Meteora! The sandstone pillars of Meteora, meaning “hovering in the air”, rise majestically above the plains of Thessaly, in north central Greece. Believed to have been formed by wind, sand and water during the tritogenic period of approximately 60 million years ago. So awe inspiring, it is astounding that this amazing natural wonder is not significant in the ancient Greek texts. In about the 12th C. Byzantine monks became retreating to the Meteora, forming a monastic state centered upon the Theotokos, or Mother of God. Numerous monasteries were erected upon thenearly inaccessible pinnacles of the Meteora. Six monasteries remain active. Unlike the monasteries at holy Mt. Athos, the monasteries at Meteora welome female visitors.

Well worth a visit to slow down, visit the monasteries. Don't stay in downtown Kalambaka. Go to the edge of the rocks, in the residential area where the Koka Roka Guesthouse/ Taverna is. The first time we visited Taki and I stayed at the Koka Roka, and we had no complaints, but it is quite basic. Next door is Also's house, the rooms are much nicer and the price is comparable. A shared kitchenmakes it easy to have breakfast and afternoon snacks, and large balconies gove an incredible view of the rocks. We have only eaten at Koka Roka's Tavern. It's cheap. it's good and it is right there so...Plus the people who run the Koka Roka are so hospitable. Arthur, who lived for many years in Australia, is there working with his mom. Every morning arthur stands in the doorway, looking at the rock....