Jay White
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The Last Tuna Fishermen
We stayed in the rooms where the last tuna fishermen lived.The water in the cove held us afloat like no other.We tumbled and spooned and found new ways to make a kiss last.Before this, swimming was not my longing.You might regard this lodging as perfect for a honeymoon,or an anniversary and it is all of that,a secret place just below a swale of agave and palmwhere anything between lovers is possible.This sanctuary of ochre light and Tyrrhenian seaalso comes with history, the great pelagic blue fincame here by the tens of thousands every yearsince the Etruscans and every yearthe fishermen cordoned them with nets,then bludgeoned, gaffed and hauled in the legendsas they fought to leap clear, the sea gone redwith their failing and the fishermen became famousjust as their fathers had becomefor bringing back the big fish that fed so manywho lit the fires for the feast and toasted the sale of the tunanow packed in ice and now there are no more menwho do this and no more fish, only this covewhere the water holds us for so long we can almost believewith the blood left in our bonesthat we can swim out to any depth and keep running from there.
