The train had stopped
And I thought
It would go forever...

Demanding,
I walk into the conductor's rancho.

He is an Arab
And I am not scared
When he says
'There is nowhere to go from here'.

Naked and unashamed
I stand
In front of his old television set
Staring at its baffled sonic space
Still,
I cover my breasts.

I turn to the right.

The horizon and its sea
Stares at me
Through the wooden frame
Of his window.


I never imagined I could feel
So free
In what I know is
An occupied territory.


I turn to the left
And I am outside.

All I can see is
A clutter of clotheslines
Pegging down the
Wet and heavy laundry.
I watch them stick out of
The crumbling grey
Of the buildings above


Suddenly
I know
That somewhere here-
If I wanted-
I could find a place