Cuba Poem

The drainage ditch is fueled with poisons.
The sunset moves like an animal in a bag.
It’s as if the caballero, with his spoon,
used a swan for a chimney.
Urchins accuse each other of infidelity
as the mint leaves float in the diplomat’s glass.
A rooster’s gasoline pumps the tractor
red as smoke devoured by worms.
Rain cuts the white cars, like a tiled stove:
a yardkeeper in a forgotten station sips milk.
A rag of salt flavored with bullion makes this guy
shift from one foot to the other.
“What have you earned,” his wife asked him.
“I have earned a life beyond the grave.”

“Cuba Poem” first appeared in River City, Winter 2004, Vol. 24 No. 1.