i'm a visitor here myself...

Poem inspired by: “But here’s something I always forget about travel loneliness…When you finally accept that you are on your own, when making friends no longer matters and when you turn your attention to other subjects, it vanishes. “ –Matt Gross

The Heaviness of Mementos I Keep

Sometimes I feel as though I’m a tourist in my own life.

Destination after destination, looking for keepsakes of my travels.

I collect faces and their expressions;

experiences and their many sordid lessons;

various mementos that signal hazy memories

that float up in my mind.

I walk through a crowded street. 

I overhear fragments of conversation

 not meant for my ears.

With a memento in my hand,

 I walk to the end of the street.

Beyond the street lies a mosaic-encrusted set of stairs

 that leads to

 a cliff overlooking a vast, blue sea.

I walk up the stairs to the edge of the cliff.

The salty, warm air wraps its arms around me.

I gaze down at my memento.

It represents quiet memories,

stringent loneliness,

misremembered companions.

I see you somewhere in it,

lurking below the surface.

I drop the memento in the water

and watch the current slowly carry it away.

As the sun warms my face and shoulders,

I feel buoyant and radiant.

I turn around and walk back to the street.

The once-crowded street is quiet as I walk

on its cobblestoned-back.

I peer inside a dusty yet fragrant café.

I see a familiar face, smiling and beckoning me in.

I amble in.

Ready to stay awhile on this trip

that is my life.

....Pictures taken in Australia, 2006.