10-14-05 Mosque
weather worsening — but of course, it’s really like Seattle. Seattle in winter.
Driving rains, driving winds – and chilled.
I feel like I’m barely prepared for such inclemency, to clothing. But I’m used to it.

I’ve wandered in to Agya Sofia — and circulated in the great caverns of that space…
And further into other markets and warehoused bazaars.
These, for the people — not for tourists.

Wandering deeper and deeper into the warrens; and it’s clear that much of this space is
ancient, judging by the brickwork. As I wander up the long winding and cobblestoned boulevards, the “otherness” of the places are surging in my mind.
There’s something here that is eastern european — then something emerges that is central asian, the faces chiseled in the geography of ancestries.

Meanwhile, there are vistas of the mosques, spiking up everwhere on the hillocks of the western side of the city.

I don’t think I’ll cross to the other.
10-14-05 Stoneway