(Notes from Turkey)
1.
cruising the narrow Bosphorus strait
Asia on one side
Europe on the other
how should we measure
the distance
between us
2.
outside the Hagia Sophia
the rumble of
an Istanbul morning
not too far away
Medusa marks time
in an ancient cistern
3.
from Taksim Square
through Istiklal street
to the Galata tower
how quickly
names and roads
become old friends
4.
returning from Konya
I buy 22 volumes
of Rumi’s Divan -i Kebir
nineteen
are still waiting
to be read
5.
wind and water and stone
making for themselves
a strange fairyland
Cappadocia —
millions of years later
still work-in-progress
6.
on the old silk route
dervishes whirl
in a caravanserai
filled with a strange love
I displace myself
from myself
7.
marble paved roads in Ephesus
a magnificent library
a grand brothel
one civilization
examines the other:
what is progress?
8.
basking
in the glow
of an Aegean sunset
little did I know
deep within
the tide was turning
(Istanbul/ Konya/ Cappadocia/Ephesus, Turkey)
A story in many unequal parts, some missing 
This post of course harks back to an old trip and better times, but a thought today too for people still recovering from that devastating earthquake. Wish nature would hold us all a little more gently, more kindly.
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A reminder of a long ago journey with my daughter immersing ourselves in an ancient culturemuch different than our ownbut always surrounded by smiles that we recognized. Thank you.
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Yes and it so rewarding as we find it very different yet very much the same… thanks TioStib. 🙏
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You have travelled so much, and it sounds amazing with such a city and country.
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Thanks Bjorn… very grateful to have seen what I have. And writing this series has been an opportunity to revisit all those memories!
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Its like images passing by……
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Thank you.. I wanted to do it as vignettes to draw in as many images and emotions as possible, so glad that worked!
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This takes me straight to my own travels around Turkey. I loved so much of what I experienced there. My heart goes out to the people who have lost so much in the recent earthquake.
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Yes a lot to appreciate- rich history, culture, diverse landscapes… and Konya was very special too.
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Konya and Rumi’s museum was a highlight of my trip too. His presence is very strong there.
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I envy you the sight of those fabled places — and the poem does of course evoke, now, the sad contrast of the recent earthquake.
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Thank you… looking back into old travel feels like Benjamin Disraeli “seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen” … 🙂
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Humankind has not been gentle with nature and nature sometimes is not gentle with us. Sadly, what takes centuries to build can take an instant to destroy and possibly become lost forever, which is why memories gathered in pictures and words are so critically historically important.
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So true..travellers become witnesses and scribes… and they bring to that record the colours of the transformation that inevitably happens within them as a result of that travel. Thank you, Maria.
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The imagery that strikes me the most is the one of the brothel and the library. In a good relationship (for me at least) the carnal and the cerebral should both be present. And it’s never an easy thing when heart and mind are someplace else.
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Ephesus is very interesting with its marble paved roads and mosaics and massive library – and brothel. Really makes you wonder. Absolutely right about relationships though! Ideally that convergence is mandatory!! 🙂
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Yes, I like this so very much. Haven’t been to Cappadocia or any of the interior but have done the rest. We went through the Phosphorous Strait going into the Black Sea (after spending two days in Istanbul). Ephesus was another day, way back in 1979.
Thank you for the remembrances triggered.
..
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So glad it triggered good memories!!! Thanks Jim. Sounds like you did a cruise.
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“I displace myself from myself …” Maybe that’s the point of travel, to see until the seeing changes us, moves the tide as you say. Elizabeth Bishop asks in ” Questions of Travel,” “Is it lack of imagination that makes us come / to imagined places, not just stay at home? / Or could Pascal have been not entirely right / about just sitting quietly in one’s room?” Indeed. I’m not a traveller – too much of getting there and finding a way back — except when I read: But maybe there needn’t be such a point to travel or reading. Some excellent structure here – great variety for the series – yet I keep reading in hope of a destination becoming knowledge. Maybe the journey really is the destination. Great sights for sure and told exquisitely, Rajani.
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Thank you, Brendan, always good to hear your perspective. I think to Bishop and Pascal, I may have explained in Part 10: https://seventyseveneast.wordpress.com/2022/08/24/part-10/ – the motivation for travel was external until the repeated displacement showed the road within. But maybe George Mallory answered best, we go to places because they are there!
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I love ‘millions of years later we are still a work in progress.’
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Yes, we humans and the rocks of Cappadocia!!! 🙂
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Your beautiful words and all the comments – just fascinating.
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Thanks so much, Margaret.
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Don’t you just love cruises! They offer lots of time to measure the distance between us (as people in general). 🙂 Beautiful poem.
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This was a short ride up and down the strait. I’ve not been tempted by the long, island hopping cruises so far…but maybe someday!!!!!
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It sounds like you have an amazing journey in life, where the road leads next who knows.
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Thank you Truedessa… who knows indeed!!! The open road keeps calling….
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I like the little snippets of imagery of each place. Quite magical, really.
I have not been to Turkey. Straddling Asia and Europe, and was once a great empire itself, it must be an amazing place. 🙂
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Yes, quite amazing. Thank you, Lee San.
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