The 7.0 magnitude earthquake which devastated much of Izmir, Sefer Hısar, and the Greek island of Samos yesterday (October 31, 2020) had me thinking of the 6.6 quake I experienced on July 21, 2017 on the Bodrum Peninsula. My family and I we’re staying in the village of Torba when it struck after midnight; and we had to spend two nights sleeping out of doors in a garden under frenzied bats. Ironically, I was going to ferry out to the island of Kos the very next morning, but the trip was cancelled as the main customs port in Kos town was destroyed. The aftershocks continued all through that first night and into the next day; and upon waking, I wrote the following:
DEDICATION TO GROUND
ground no longer
steady the clouds
still pass
ground no longer
steady a bee
flies to a flower
ground no longer
steady I
lay a hand upon it
ground no longer
steady I
step
(otata 22)
