Huqqa

 

 

“Hookah” by Baraholder

 

 

wet smoke lays down in languorous lungs
condensation to sweeten a bubbling glass
Turkish pipestem draws vapors round tongues
for savoring shish burned in bellies of brass
the mood climbs a flight of transcendent rungs
to a mellow state bourbon alone can surpass

 

(originally posted January 2014)

Trebizond

“St George and the Princess of Trebizond”
Painting by Pisanello
From wikiart.com

wound of geography
slashed by the swords
of a Black Sea crusade
Christian Greeks wrest
small thrones from
Byzantium carving
brief Hellenist refuge
exotic with commerce

a gateway for caravans
carrying contraband
fortunes in silk road
transactions converted
to splendors of palace
and public domains

an entrepôt drawing
great treasure ships
into this Caucasus
saddle-land serving the
dream merchants hailing
from Asia and Europe

the landing place dressed
to receive Marco Polo
en-route to his long
overdue reappearance
in Venice illustrious
covered with fame

this was tenuous empire
the last bastard offspring
of bloodlines first born
in the grandeur of Rome
short-lived but sumptuous
thriving despite constant
intrigues of enemy states
till the Turk at last finally
extinguished its flame