TRAVEL POEM
Enjoy The Silence
Vasilis Manousakis is a short-story writer, poet and translator, whose work has appeared in New American Writing, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Barcelona Ink, Parentheses and Drunken Boat among others. He is also a founding member of Bonsai Stories, the blog directly linked to Planodion literary magazine. He holds a Ph.D. in Contemporary American Poetry and currently teaches Creative Writing, Modern Poetry, Short Fiction and Literary Translation at the Hellenic American College, Athens, Greece.
He says: “This poem was originally inspired by the notice for the cleaners in my Paris hotel room which jokingly alluded to the Depeche Mode song. This brought me to the inner journey and the quest for peace and serenity. And how much we can enjoy this kind of silence.”

Enjoy The Silence
The sign at the hotel door
urging me to find silence within
I check out the window
and see Montmartre cemetery
I wonder if this is the peace
I should enjoy
numbing my thoughts to the point
I do not feel them anymore
As I walk down the streets of Paris now
I find the inspiration I need
helped by the Beaujolais I tasted
Paris is a busy city
but I enjoy its silence
Paris is an escape
Escape is silence
Silence is healing
I am healing