Poetry Thursday and Preparing for Australia

The House of the Winds...

...I think this was called.
We must have got that from the Michelin Guide
Since we talked to no-one about it,
Not that there was anyone to talk to about it
When we were there:
No sight nor sound of anyone indoors,
The street bare of people
And not even a stray dog around.

I can’t check the name of the place
(Since I gave the Guide away),
Whether that was it or why it was if it was.
And the Guide wouldn’t say anything
In any case
About the open window,
Why it was open when there was no glass
Anyway
And the air was free to flow through all floors
So what was special about that room?

Ah, that is the room the winds blow through,
And that wide-open window is the one
That draws all memories
Into the gloom,
Where they swirl for a while
Then drift off into the void.

It stole our thoughts
From the street where we stood
And read the Guide
And forgot what it said
And lost the name of the town
And the time of day;
And I can’t now recall
What we talked about then
Or if we held hands as we walked away.

H.S. Toshack from Images of Portugal

I love this poem. It really captures the feel of visiting some obscure place written about in a guide as you travel through foreign lands. I thought it was a perfect pre-Australia Poetry Thursday poem. In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that this poem is meant to be viewed with a photograph. You can check it out here.

Last night we had a very fun dinner party. Melissa, Jason, Sean, Katie, Rick, Jeff, Eleonore, Nico, Jojo and her new man Andy came over. Jojo made some delicious crab cakes (she resents the "Jojo's got crabs and wants to share them with you" slogan, yet she keeps playing into it), and yummy (plus extremely plentiful) corn and potato salads. I grilled up some pollo and carne asada from Trader Joe's and we made tortillas. I also made a green salad with lettuce, mint, tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries. For dessert we had Jojo's rasberry crumble with vanilla ice cream and Sean's homemade lime sherbert. It was quite a feast! I ate myself sick.

Today I'm packing and preparing for my travels. I'm so excited and can't wait for the trip. I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow!!!