Samos
Between the fire station
and the refugee camp
is the island cemetery,
white as bone in the noon sun.
Many of the marble graves
are marked with lanterns
that burn for seven days.
Sunday afternoons the old women—
occasionally an old man—
come after church
to refill the oil vessels
and water what flowers still survive.
Pythagoras was born on this island,
but left to make a name
for himself in far Calabria.
When death and misfortune
overtake a family here,
the fishing boat does not return,
the hotels lining the harbor are not hiring
and the last son leaves for work
in Piraeus or Heraklion,
lights go out.
Michael Hanner is an architect whose poems are found in Timberline Review, Nimrod, Cloudbank, Rhino, Southern Humanities Review, Gargoyle, Mudfish and others. His most recent books are Vivaldi (Tebot Bach, 2013), October (Chandelier Galaxy, 2015), and Adriatica (Chandelier Galaxy, 2016), plus a guide book, Le Bugue, Black Périgord & Beyond (Chandelier Galaxy, 2016). He loves Toni Hanner, sharp scissors, Esterbrook pens, travel, irony, English croquet, French cooking, Argentine tango, and photography.