SELF CARTOGRAPHY

In my eye pupils I keep

all sunrises and sunsets

seen by my mother, father,

grandmother and grandfather,

and their mothers and fathers

grandmothers and grandfathers

and all black ravens over the Black Sea

and all white seagulls over the White Sea

and all red clouds over the Red Sea

and the Dead Sea with slain dreams turned into salt

and scars on the places where there were wings

I have a snake island within me

and a church with healing water among the snakes

an icon with the two faces of Jesus

and Renaissance frescos with angels

and one Olympus I have inside me

and my own Zeus who throws thunders on himself

I have Sahara inside me

and the music of North Africa sung by man only

is sung by my female cells

and all traditional songs of the Balkans

call for an unknown man

and peaks with unknown height

without flags

abysses with unknown depth

screams of unknown mouths

I have oleanders and cactuses

unmapped world and a dried flower

from an ancient book of wisdom

which I don’t know how to read