Jenny Wong

Rua Augusta

It's the street

            of cork wallets                      and Ginja drinks                 in chocolate cones,

                         of shelves that gleam with canned sardines.

                                                       The bacalhau dangle.

                                      Leather bodies        tied        with dry strings.

                                            That smell that reminds me of my feet.

How I can walk thousands of steps       over

                                                these limestone streets

                         set in black and white,

                                      shadow and light.

A new pattern emerges—

                    walkways,                          crossings,                          pathways aside.

                    Of mermaid scales.

            Of ocean waves.

                    Of broken compasses pointing east      and cracked stars of sailors’ dreams.

The man in front of the egg tart bakery gives me
                                                                                 a piece of advice.

                                   Smile,
                                               you're in Lisbon.

His hands return to his drums,

                                  to bounce on those little circles of skin,

            to give a new heartbeat       between

the hardness of sidewalk and tired old foot bones.

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Jenny Wong is a writer, traveler, and occasional business analyst. She resides in the foothills of Alberta, Canada and tweets @jenwithwords. Lately, her writings have been more about indoor things, but she still dreams about evening wanderings around Tokyo alleys, Singapore hawker centres and Parisian cemeteries. Recent publications include Truffle Magazine, Split Rock Review, Burnt Breakfast Magazine, Parentheses Journal and Crow & Cross Keys.