MIKAEL VIIMA

Notes

Valencia retreat

Three photos of one sunset over the Valencia waterfront, taken minutes apart: a gull crossing the sky above the sinking sun, the sun touching a tower block, then only a sliver left behind it.

Valencia retreat. And a character of a poem with cloak and dagger drama - a boat of many identities…

A canvas bag covered in NAFO patches in the foreground. Behind it, moored in the marina, a large white motor yacht named Vita Nova, Portsmouth.

The poem “La Marina Real” in the nano text editor. Seawind sways the masts of sailboats at rest at Valencia Royal marina. / Watermass lifts gently the bodies of the boats / up / down // Sunlight glimmers, / glitters, / breaks, / sparkles / on the thick blue waves // Ropes and fenders of a huge yacht from Portsmouth groan and cackle hoarsely. // The owner has no time nor money to maintain it (fine wood on the deck has no lacquer) / to drive it (fenders have been down a long time) / or even to visit it. // Meanwhile the yacht dances a slow gentle sway / all the sunlit days / all the moonlit nights / on the gentle waves / broken for it by the jetty. // It sounds as if the ropes and fenders / are laughing at the owner. // Not with him. // At him. // (True story: AFTER writing this poem by the boat in Valencia in 2026, I checked it, the “Vita Nova”. It was previously used by a Russian arms dealer. Then the Kremlin decided to invade Ukraine. The boat had a Ukrainian engineer. Not happy with The Boss, he tried to sink it. Arrested, freed, joined the Ukrainian army. The new name of the boat, in Latin, means “New Life”. Perchance The Boss of “Lady Anastasia” is now tied elsewhere. Maybe with barb wire. The Receipts: superyachttimes.com, transcripts.cnn.com, yachtbuyer.com, eldiario.es.)

The receipts:

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