Sunday in Gdansk
In the Gdansk inner harbor
the boat is filled with families and couples
toasting each other with pints.
The town becomes
only shipyards and then, the open sea.
A singer tests the microphone with his pointer finger.
Everyone else joins in. I am a kind of lonely
that is hard to feel or swallow.
We pass the shipyards, boats half-carcassed
where Solidarity was born,
converted into trendy loft living.
The Solidarity Museum has signage
on the glass doors at the entrance
proclaiming: “Europe begins here.”
A light show about a peoples’ revolution
reflects off the walls along the quay
as families enjoy ice cream cones. Lech Walesa
is in his apartment nearby, half-revered and half reviled.
In Westerplatte, on the tiny beach next to the parking lot
shirtless truck drivers stand near their rigs, their shorts
damp with the smell of land that sits awkwardly
between East and West. Here is a french fries stand
where the world once broke apart.
Whoever visits history gets to write it.
The poem published here, Sunday in Gdansk, is from Jo-Ann Mort’s forthcoming first book, “A Precise Chaos”. The book will be published by Arrowsmith Press in Spring 2025. Jo-Ann, a poet and journalist, lives in Brooklyn and travels frequently for inspiration and story-chasing. She is a member of the steering committee of Writers for Democratic Action.
