Poking

Here in the hotel, the staff told me, I have to see the starry sky over Iriomote.

They show me fotos on there cell phones ... nothing of this is written in the travel guide books ...

but while I'm surfing with that, 

I met an old friend ...

Hier im Hotel erzählt mir das personal, ich müsse den Sternenhimmel über Iriomote sehen.
Sie zeigen mir Bilder auf ihren Handys ... nix davon steht in den Reiseführern ...
aber wie ich so vor mich hin surfe ...
treffe ich einen alten Bekannten ...

... and again I'm standing there with empty hands
reading a poem from Doug Dorph ... leaves me ... speechless ...

Forgotten Planet

I ask my daughter to name the planets.
"Venus ...Mars ...and Plunis!" she says.
When I was six or seven my father
woke me in the middle of the night.
We went down to the playground and lay
on our backs on the concrete looking up
for the meteors the tv said would shower.

I don't remember any meteors. I remember
my back pressed to the planet Earth,
my father's bulk like gravity next to me,
the occasional rumble from his throat,
the apartment buildings dark-windowed,
the sky close enough to poke with my finger.

Now, knowledge erodes wonder.
The niggling voce reminds me that the sun
does shine on the dark side of the moon.
My daughter's ignorance is my bliss.
Through her eyes I spy like a voyeur.

I travel in a rocket ship to the planet Plunis.
On Plunis I no longer long for the past.
On Plunis there are actual surprises.
On Plunis I am happy.

—Doug Dorph

... sometimes I'm happy and don`t know - why!
... reading this, I`m happy and I do know - why!

Have a great day and a peaceful night!