Allan Lake is a migrant poet from Allover, Canada who now lives in Allover, Australia. Coincidence. He has published poems in 20 countries. His latest chapbook of poems, entitled ‘My Photos of Sicily’, was published by Ginninderra Press. It contains no photos, only poems.
I’ve flown from big, busy, north-of-Antarctica
Melbourne, to a north-of-Africa Sicilian coastal
town where there are knowing cobblestones
heavy with history juxtaposed with the latest
fashions and divine pastries and espresso.
Although a tourist, I avoid tourist season
because I dislike disco and crowded beaches
and everything else that seems to attract Them,
including extreme heat. No need to mention
Mediterranean or brooding Nebrodi Mountains.
Like Sicilians, they live here. Then there is jet-
lagged me. I select my soft, sentimental jazz
collection, put on pajamas in mid-morning
and slip into sheets, in dark room, alone.
Could have done this in often chilly
Melbourne without robbing a piggy,
without flying for so many hours,
but staying where I speak the language
and drive on the the right side of road
is just too easy. Said I was alone
but I’m with Chet, Shirley Horn, Keith
Jarret, Diana Krall, Nils Langren and
a stream of others who quietly queue.
Thankfully, they’re all in pajamas
and keep it down low.
For other contributions by Allan Lake, please follow the links below:
- Twenty-Minute Documentary
- Stasis Before Tourist Season
- Capo d’Orlando, Sicilia
- Late Mourning, Sicily
- [Sicilian] [Cemetery]
Poetry in this post: © Allan Lake
Published with the permission of Allan Lake