to reach my island home
\nonce you’ve alighted
\nfrom the ferry:
\nlift your nose
\ninhale deeply the crisp and tangy air
\ntilt your head
\ninhale again
\ndoes that stir memories?<\/p>\n
walk to the minibus
\nparked beside
\nthe squat red cement shed
\nthat serves
\nas a shelter
\nagainst the elements
\nbut not against mosquitoes
\nand myriad other insects
\nthat descend at dusk<\/p>\n
board the bus
\nchoose a seat of your liking
\nthey’re all hard
\nand not at all comfortable
\nbut that doesn’t matter<\/p>\n
the ride begins
\nand the green hits you
\nat eye level
\ninterpersed
\nwith dips of silvery blue
\nslivers on land
\nwhile large swathes
\nof white pock marked blue
\ncolour the open spaces<\/p>\n
don’t mind the rattle of the windows
\nor the clatter of your teeth and bones
\nthe driver has a good track record
\nbut better to hold
\nthe handle of the seat ahead
\nin case of exigencies<\/p>\n
the velocity of the bus
\nbarely allows you to appreciate
\nthe variety of bird life
\nat innocuous play
\naround the mangroves
\nsurrounding the place<\/p>\n
as the bus climbs small hills
\nspeeds around bends
\nsqueezes past other vehicles
\non the narrow, winding road
\nyou’re forced to admire
\nits agility<\/p>\n
the bus heaves
\npast the last hill
\novertaking the fat
\nwoman with pendulous steps
\nit trundles across
\na railway overbridge
\nthe road narrows
\nlike a school master’s
\npiercing gaze
\nas a vehicle approaches<\/p>\n
you wonder
\nhow the impasse
\nwill resolve
\nand you’re witness to
\nthe magical expansion
\nof the road that
\nlasts a few moments<\/p>\n
you exhale
\nrealising you had held
\nyour breath all this while<\/p>\n
you stand when
\nyou sight the white
\ndomed structure
\ntowering above the trees
\nCandelaria chapel<\/p>\n
clutching every possible aid
\nyou yell to the driver
\nto stop
\nand stumble out
\nat your destination
\nthankful of the use
\nagain of your legs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
to reach my island home once you’ve alighted from the ferry: lift your nose inhale deeply the crisp and tangy air tilt your head inhale again does that stir memories? walk to the minibus parked beside the squat red cement shed that serves as a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3670,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13,1136,441,5],"tags":[4906,5523,4375,2665,5133],"class_list":["post-119899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-miscellaneous","category-official-marathon-prompts","category-poetry-prompt-responses","category-poetry-prompts","tag-2022fullmarathon","tag-2022hour19","tag-ermelindamakkimane","tag-hour19","tag-thepoetrymarathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3670"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119899"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123770,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119899\/revisions\/123770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}