Catalonia

Salou’s beach
with its sands
compact,
bars spaced–
neat vertabrae,
a spine stretching
and bending
down to Cambrils.

This day of summer’s peace
is Catalonia’s legacy.
A bloody regretful history gives way
to holiday makers sipping 14 euro pina coladas
on hot sands and sun loungers.

History sacrificed
for the shouts and screams;
enjoyment for future generations.
Puzzled tourists lost down Las Ramblas
transformed into intrepid explorers
lost on an island of gothic megastructures.

Terragona in a forever battle against modern mortar,
still fighting Rome’s ambition.
The fight is worthless,
there is a place in Catalonia for past and present.
Under the sun’s parasol
language is even.