WEEKEND IN ROTTERDAM
2008
Phoenix
city, harbour machine
with
the spirit of Erasmus watching on.
Ships
bob and grind in the harbour, needling rain
stains
Coolspiel. A lightning crack
illuminates
like a frozen Vermeer view.
That
thunder off the North Sea, the following
clarity
of light reminds me of home,
of
Canterbury and Otago, of New Zealand.
How
can a major Dutch city
not
have any internet cafés?
In
a scruffy pub I drowse in a corner,
am
drowned in beer and camaraderie
in
Europe’s open mouth. The weather
groans
and strains. I smell the sea, the bruised sky
and
am content.
First Published in Takahē 67, 2009
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