The Old Port, Limassol

Kak tebya zovut? I wish I had
a Cypriot pound or so
for every razor cheekboned
hard-working girl in Limassol
I asked that question of:
Irinas, Lyudmillas and memorably
an Olga from Yalta on the Black Sea.
In the puerile way of drunken
airmen we called her the
Creature from the Black Lagoon,
although she was no monster.
Just a girl working a bar
in the old port, the dive with the
parrot we taught to say
‘Fuck off, Blair’ in Russian.
It only took a day and
twenty six brandy sours
between the three of us.