Sultan Fleet, The

Here am I
swinging like Tarzan
from vessel to vessel of
the sultan fleet.
Bobbing on the ethereal green Manavgat river
to the spray of the waterfall where the frothy topaz liquid births out
like the burst sac of a turquoise placenta or the rainbow vomit of a
child gorged on cheap doctored sweets and forbidden coral wine.
My head rings with the turtle calls of the
child whose foot was seared like soft cheese by a rusty nail held fast
in rotten wormwood.
My feet finally press upon dry land
while the Turkish sun, like a warring Muslim country fails to relent
its assault.