LÖYTÖJÄRVI * ALICJA ROSE
to Sallamari
i followed the maps and didn't know we had to take
a long way round to the lake as if one had to make
those circle lines, entangled yarns and streams that
run down to town, always ahead of you but never
able to come back to the top of the hill which undresses
itself up to the boundaries of spruces around. it is
a bare moon that cheated on us and shone too soon
or it was we who cheated on him and followed
a fox instead.
we walk the paths that shine with marble or was it
just a naked potato in the garden and soft petals
of velvet flowers, withered white wisps of fireweed
- does it remember summer yet? it passed over me
and left traces on sandy roads that lead me through
the forest to the open space where cormorants cut
the sky in halves and faces change into clouds to
make new continents or slowly
pass me by.
there are two lakes, i don't know in which we swim,
water is cold when i immerse myself and learn my
body is alive, oh i am just a Pavlovian dog, i need
to call voglio una donna! just like in Amarcord so
i keep a stone in my pocket to cool me down and watch
smoke from the sauna climbing up as if it was a shadow
cast on a late summer evening that looks like
longing or a tattoo on your arm, this line that goes round
into eternity.
*lake close to Hyrynsalmi, Kajaani (central Finland) on the edge of the
Paljakka forest reserve. its name literally means: Discovery Lake or Lake Find(ing)