A Scene After Dinner.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

an empty drinking glass
falls from the hand of the house
help,

it breaks on the floor into
pieces

we hear the sound of the breaking
the shattering

we do not mind, drinking glasses break
the sound is usual and we do not

ever dare to ask why as we are busy
with our usual business

i am reading a book, you are rendering
an accounting on a yellow paper

the guest is preoccupied with the internet
booking for a ticket back home

there is another sound of breaking
that is not evident to everyone in the house

that evening after dinner
and suddenly there is a blackout of the whole island

it is hot, and humid and we perspire
we do not complain, as there is no use

we hear the sound of a breaking as loud as
a nuclear bomb in Hirosma as a documentary film

in National Geographic, we suffer, silently,
we are becoming deaf, we do not mind anymore.