Itanos

At the end of the road on the island,
indecipherable ruins, the penetrating
essence of sage and thyme.
You are alone with the stony heat,
scoured of thought.
The sea crashing into jagged caves
and sliding back, tireless,
the blond sand and the emptiness,
once heard, will hold you forever,
stranger, on this island where the road ends.

Ruth Holzer is the author of eight chapbooks, most recently "Home and Away" (dancing girl press) "Living in Laconia" (Gyroscope Press) and "Among the Missing” (Kelsay Books).  Her poems have appeared in Southern Poetry Review, Blue Unicorn, Slant, Poet Lore and Freshwater among other journals and anthologies. She has received several Pushcart Prize nominations.