ISTANBUL, AUGUST, 1999

Here in the Istanbul library
before any blackberry
was discovered
pulling out
an initiating dictionary
with a red crescent cover
after an earthquake
wakes me up from my bed
watching an assurgent
Ottoman sunrise
after finishing nectar tea
an archaeologist exploring
the country's lost bones
and carcasses
crushed from rock
in nature and historical acts
no art has been compromised
in a two minutes of a clock
now among artifacts
I'm running out of time
and words in moon lit ash.