tonight our fellows are
Dutch
Swedes
Turks
Swiss
Kiwis
Brits
Italians
Yankees
and a lone Canadian
by passport only

how my sphere has changed
my community expanded
and my interests reshaped

no longer worried about
meetings
or traffic
or flight times

it’s different now
and I am different for it

we talk of the weather
but not in that chit chatty way
no, in the way of necessity
of forecasting
of routing

we talk of destinations
and their desirability
to determine whether to anchor
or tie up
or move along
to a more pleasing port of call

we talk of politics
not to debate ideologies
but to ascertain if a waypoint
remains on our route
or is temporarily put aside
for a future season

we talk of governments
and their efficiencies
or lack of
to log visitors
or track Visas

when we talk of celebrities
they are sailors
writers
car racers
treasure divers
weather routers
and the odd, notorious Harbor Master
from Nazare
or Datca
or Galaxidi

we talk of food
sometimes a restaurant
only found by foot
fish only, no menu

but mostly of provisions
where the markets are
whose stall has the best almonds
the old woman with the cheating scales
which islands have Lidls
and those with Carrefours

what a lovely party tonight
the smell of fresh rain
us huddled under the patio
smelling the grill
bits of this and bites of that
as varied as the company
and equally as delicious