for Beti Ramos, curandera, maestra, hermana
1 (Carolina prelude - near death - midsummer)
…serpent strikes the
chest, venom close to the
heart, ill effect in a country
ditch in the arms of a young
man whose last name is the
Spanish moon, straw beneath
me a place to die, Moon's
face in daylight, detailed,
clear, a smile I know to be
a last horizon...
…unreal the piano then,
grandmother's arthritic fingers,
chipped keys, a boy once in thrall
of both moon and an old hymn,
familiar strings out of tune
'ahora y en la hora de nuestra
muerte'*
now and at the hour
of our death...
2 (season of recovery - Colombia, South America)
...seriously ill, Medellin**,
a month there in pale blue
parks reading paler Federico
and a Colombian poet whose
statue I there daily saw when
still in serpent's thrall
I earlier drift in and out
Cartagena*** a statue of
a pig, not a man, and words,
a poet's lullaby in bronze,
a pig begging for human
clapping hands, his bright
red shoes plead for a lovely
girl with whom he may lead
in a dance...
3 (Hermosita's song)
...sad fetching fountain
evoking Medellin, enchanted
feverish fountain far from serpent
and sea, Little Muneca**** at noon
daily comes to me on the bench
of black pumice, Purace's*****,
where I write -
'O please buy my cherries,
dark rubies sweet…sing
me the rhymes again of
Little Pig, his shoes red,
and red the need to dance
the precise feminine tread
of the far graceful Golfo******,
its pacing crests where
terns dapper chase
puffing out their chests,
dip their beaks to kiss
the spray's pale green
brine burst into shine…'
4
'Wait, ' she says, 'Not goodbye.
Never that.
I dance with you
forever, Little Pig.
I polish your shoes of
metal - tiny espejos - mirrors -
for toes,
vincapervinca - periwinkles - on
the heals to tap.
Always you are here on the black
pumice to buy and eat cherries sweet,
dark and ruby red.
For me you are always,
man pale as the moon,
El Blanco - she giggles, winks,
crosses her little fingers behind
her skirt - I don't mean to hurt
your feelings, Mister, but you are:
and will forever be:
Senor Mono Con Ojos Verde
Que Siempre Estan Llorando...
Mr. Monkey With Green Eyes
That Are Always Crying...'
*'ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte' - the last line of the Catholic prayer, The Rosary, prayed to Mother Mary: 'now and at the hour of our death'
**Medellin, a city in Colombia, South America
***Cartagena, a coastal city in Colombia, South America
****Muneca/Munequita, 'Doll/Little Doll' in Spanish
*****Purace, an active volcano in Colombia, South America
******Golpo - Spanish for 'gulf' - refers to the Gulf of Mexico
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem