odessa

i don't know why, but there are certain words and names which just make my throat and chest fill with fundamental euphoria, beguiling excitement and an unknown longing. like the view from the skanky marseille beach onto the old prison islands in the gloomy, stinky, great sea with the faint idea of africa in the air far beyond what the eye can see.
odessa is another one of those words that does this thing with me.
everything i know about it makes my bells ring:
these stairs
the black sea
the ancient synagogues
eisenstein's film
-what a place.