THE PORT OF MACHALA Comments

The old sailor told of
A cave by the sea
From which every night,
With fine sheets of air
And the sparkle of pins in the sand,
A woman came out,
A woman, as graceful as the fire's flames,
With breasts like coconut pitchers
And black like tar
Who walked the streets of the port of Machala
Looking for unfaithful men
And had them make love to her on the dock,
Where the sea wets the wood.

No woman of Machala kept her husband, only
From time to time small boys turned up
Come from the sea and oblivion,
The men never came back,
They say they are in the sea like the fish
And the boys talk with them
And call them "fathers" in the market when they sell them.
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