Monday, May 27, 2013

Socotra Notes, 3/19/13


There are flies on your toes, ocean waves in your ears, goat shit underfoot and great itching. There are army generals with bags of khat marinating between their teeth and the sides of their mouths, who, charged with sexual energy and far from their wives must walk down to the sea or go up to the mountain to cool down and sleep. The tea is sugary and the drums are made from sheep’s skin, warmed in fire and played for hours in the company of your curious guests. 

The men gather to eat and talk and the women orbit in dark veils and beautiful robes, with piercing eyes and giggling children. The beaches are littered with crab pyramids. The vultures have scraggly yellow heads and the ghosts of Indian House Crows haunt the trees. The sand dunes pile along the sides of great rock cliffs, rippling like ocean water. 

And the sound of Ismael’s voice is soothing and musical, flowing over everything and making every rock, every sandy stretch, every shrub, every ant, every hopeful hitchhiker, every great buzzing wasp, every delicious sweet potato, every premature date, every fisherman and goat herder and gas station attendant, every piece of garbage, every dusty jawbone, every severed goat leg, every drop of turquoise water, every bug bite, every bowl of fresh bread, every bottle of non-alcoholic Beck’s beer, every journal entry, every photograph, every call to prayer, every short-wave radio signal, every ache and itch, every dirt stain, every healing cut, every passport page, every winding road, every fly, every hand shake, every cup of tea, every star-eyed child, every fish carcass, every empty water bottle, every wet bathing suit, every civet cat sighting, every cushion, every conversation, every straining squat, every cramp, every circling buzzard, every flickering butterfly, every bare foot, every biscuit and every flat tire a part of his stories. 

And behind it all the hazy threat of spider bites and scorpion stings, a mild electric current that buzzes softly beneath the radio static, bird song and storytelling.

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