11:00 am
Mist, Mystery, and Magic
Baños de Oaxaca
1
The steam soaks everything.
Fundy on a foggy day is not this dark.
2
A face looms through the mist
A hand taps me on the shoulder.
The masseur points me
to the next room:
he is a brown man, totally naked …
… he takes a step back,
startled by my whiteness.
The masseur gestures.
I strip off my shorts
and lie on the marble slab.
Incense caresses my brain
with its subtle invasion.
3
The massage begins.
Slow karate chops:
the heartbreak
in my muscles
begins to break down.
The masseur hums as he moves.
He drives each note home
with pounding fingertips.
I am the piano.
He is the maestro,
rippling the keyboard
with manipulative fingers.
Beethoven’s storm scene
in the Pastoral Symphony
must feel like this
in the Liszt transcription.
The music accelerates.
I am swept away:
a rudderless ship
on a sea of wild sound.
4
My abandoned flesh
releases itself to cauterizing
currents of earth and air.
My spirit overflows.
Eyes closed, drowsing,
my grey sea of grief
transmutes into
a river of gold.
rogermoorepoet 
Thank you, Tanya. The ability to close one’s eyes, meditate, and transport oneself into a different world is simply transcendental, in every sense of the word. Occasionally that tranquil moment is imposed upon us from the outside, although it usually surges up from deep within. I think “imposed” may be the wrong word: encouraged or enhanced might be a better choice. I know what I want to say, but it’s so difficult to express. Now isn’t that just the daily life of a poet?
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I had a friend who was really struggling in her life. I remember her describing how a therapeutic massage for an injury completely reduced her to tears and allowed for a great release of emotion. She was the victim of an abusive ex, and her male therapist was the first caring touch from a man’s hands that she had experienced in years. Exquisite capture, Roger…
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Thank you. I love the image of the pianist pounding the piano: it was sweet music, though rather brutal. The Mixtec massage is a thing of wonder. Highly recommended: fasting, incense, steam, bath, massage, cold water to revive the soul. It varies from place to place: but it is always something special.
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So finely descriptive and alluring, you really pull the reader into your wonderfully painted scene. Very well-done!
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