THE BLUE GROTTO

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Mermaids, mantled in mazarine

Fancy sees;

The ocean-sirens, and her, their queen

Of music-charméd memories.

Still breathes the ancient Parthenope.

O'er waters of modern Napoli

Her melodies.

Blue, - blue, - beautiful and intense, -

Everywhere:

Spirits, or some one spirit immense,

Breathing and burning in the air;

Making an ardent presence felt,

Till the rocks seemed as like to melt

In the glare.

- WILLIAM GIBSON, THE GROTTO AZZURO

Blue WONDERS AND DISTANT MEMORIES

The feeling of sea water rocketing into my sinuses - sharper than salt and vinegar chips. 

Barefoot children shouting the word medusa - a swarm of jellyfish. 

An irate group of boatmen, who swear, and curse one another, and sing as they row their dinghies into the blue grotto. 

A cave that is lit from below. The ceiling is dark and the water is illumined like blue flames.

Setting up our hammock on a flimsy metal guard, on a cliff by the sea. Only to have the whole thing collapse in a heap. 

MOUNT SOLARO

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Above the island of Capri, everything melts into a dream of pure, sparkling blue. The sky is newly washed. The sea shifts and sways. The world breathes out.

White scudding water. A boat far below.

A lizard scatters across the rocks, clinging to the vertical crevices.

The atmosphere is composed of 98% warmth.

And the view rolls on with a sigh into blue mountains.
Way up here, yellow budded flowers tingle. 

We lose the path for the forest.
Then the forest for a crop of stones.
Then a ledge above a cliff
- we walk on - 
to the edge of existence. 

---

ANACAPRI

So many things on the island of Capri were smaller than usual. The roads, for instance, would not have fit a normal-sized car in a million years. Instead, the arm-length lanes are occupied by scooters, toy-sized trucks and people making their journey on foot. As one vehicle attempts to pass another, an onlooker might feel a slight flutter of anxiety, the distances between the two often equating to a hair's breadth.

The island itself is tiny too. The perfect size for family of Crusoes or Robinsons to explore after a shipwreck.

However, Capri also manages to seem larger than life. Like a tree - upon first glance it seems passive and sleepy. Yet, look a little closer, and it is teeming with spiders, bees, ladybugs and birds, who all make their homes in a tree, as do mosses and creeping vines.

As a tree is brimming with life, so Capri is brimming with energy, colour, and absurdity.

“Mild winters and cool summers temper its climate,
the shores are lapped by the waters
of a harmless sea.
Peace untroubled reigns there,
and life is leisurely and calm,
with quiet undisturbed,
and sleep unbroken.”

— STATIUS - 2ND CENTURY AD