Skorda's Seaside Taverna: Hooray for first baby steps!

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

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Hooray for first baby steps!

From e-Kathimerini: Greener bags now in stores

Volunteers yesterday handed out free reusable shopping bags in central Athens as a municipal pilot scheme, aimed at phasing out the use of plastic bags, was launched in nine supermarkets.

Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis, who has spearheaded efforts to boost recycling in the capital, said that he believed shoppers would adopt greener ways. “We as Greeks are not lacking in sensitivity or decisiveness but simply are not well informed,” he said. “When we are correctly informed, then I believe our mentality changes,” he said, noting that a recent 15-day awareness campaign attracted 100,000 participants.

The six-week scheme is to lead to the replacement of plastic bags with alternatives made of starch or other biodegradable materials, or of fabric, from June 1. The bags, which are said to last for 18 to 20 months, will be sold for 7 cents each at the stores participating in the scheme, which include all the major chains.