Butuan Airport Poem by RIC BASTASA

i met this old woman
who lives in Seattle
dance teacher
now at 79
she does not look like
an old hag
really

she brags she can dance
the boogie or
tango non-stop for
five hours

she does not eat much
she walks more

she told me she was once married
but she ended it
she went her way
to the U.S.A.

her husband made her a punching bag
did not give her money
had other women
as she served as his geisha
washing his clothes
cooking his meals
bathing him
etcetera

her neighbors even advised her to
poison him one day
but she didn't

instead she went her way to the U.S.A.
where she is now free

she says she can dance non-stop for five hours
and no one has yet
defeated her for that

oh my! what a woman!

in just a short span
of time
while we waited for our plane

she, i think
has told her story
so well.