SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul
FROM THE CRUSADERS' FORT
TO MODERN THERMAL
DAWN OVER THE SEA OF MARMARA
POETRYREPAIRS v13.02:016
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FROM THE CRUSADERS' FORT TO MODERN THERMAL DAWN  OVER  THE  SEA  OF  MARMARA  

FROM THE CRUSADERS' FORT
Yesterday we took a fat passenger boat that showed Turkish sit-coms on the TV, steamed past a castle perched high on a rocky island— now a prison, yet dreamily beautiful in the distance, on our way to the ruins of the Crusader´s fort crouched over the entrance to the Black Sea. On shore we took a taxi and then climbed on foot to the ancient red stone fort. An occasional herd of goats scatter before us as we walked and gazed breathlessly at the incredible view across the narrow Strait of Bosporus the fort was built eight hundred years ago to defend. Waiting for our return trip to Istanbul we lunched on fresh-caught fish in one of the little restaurants near the dock. At the water's edge, a row of brightly painted dories rocked gently, decorated with a dozen multicolored cats begging for scraps.
POETRYREPAIRS 13.02:016
I have many things to write unto you but   I will not write with pen and ink
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FROM THE CRUSADERS' FORT TO MODERN THERMAL DAWN  OVER  THE  SEA  OF  MARMARA  


TO MODERN THERMAL
Beyond our windows morning tips splashes of light into the Sea of Mamara as we prepare for today's adventure— Today – today we are going to Thermal, the natural thermal springs where the Ataturk, the mighty politician known as “The Father of the Turks” went to relax. (It was the Ataturk who pulled Turkey into the 20th century by sheer charismatic political strength.) It's January, 37 degrees Fahrenheit—misty, cold, as we travel by another plump dowager boat and then a sturdy public bus, driving past small hamlets and fields and orchards before we finally reach foothills and pine forest studded with the many modern buildings surrounding the Springs. At first we are taken to a small, dim, moldy little room with a huge concrete bathtub. Then we decide, no, better outside in the cold than this grim place! We walk past an elegant white building filled with shouts and laughter where Turks are happily enjoying the thermal springs under a curved roof. We walk a little further and are enchanted by the great open blue pool, its steaming expanse spread under the sunless sky, completely empty of people. The two of us and a pool for two hundred – changing into our bathing suits in the tidy louvered dressing cubicles (have I ever been this bare in a place this cold?? we plunge, shivering, into the wonderful 130 degree water – until it becomes unbearably hot, then out to cool off .. until it becomes too cold, and again we fling ourselves into that divine, all-enveloping warmth.
SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul
POETRYREPAIRS 13.02: 016
Poetry endangers the established order  of the soul - Plato

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FROM THE CRUSADERS' FORT TO MODERN THERMAL DAWN  OVER  THE  SEA  OF  MARMARA  


DAWN  OVER  THE  SEA  OF  MARMARA
Low on the horizon, emerging over the pink-tinged Sea of Marmara, the sun rises through the mists, tamed by the haze of early morning into an orb burning red as the sultan's favorite ruby. Hulking tankers, streaked with rust, lie at anchor between shore and shore. A few vessels float serenely on the narrow crimson road the early sun has laid along the water, awaiting their turn to make the passage past the Golden Horn to the Black Sea.
SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul
POETRYREPAIRS 13.02: 016
SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul

FROM THE CRUSADERS' FORT
TO MODERN THERMAL
DAWN OVER THE SEA OF MARMARA
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