Gazing at Cuba
I turn and look deeply out to see--
struck breathless by the roar of the surf
I stand on an edge facing forbidden islands
struck lame in a mishap from another year
I wobble on an uncertain pathway
dependent on any that can catch me-
there are songs from the sea that I hear
scents that ride the wind
blowing from the south-
though I might have grabbed at the last moment
and pulled myself alive
I cannot tell what is the cord
that connects me
to that former person who first set his foot into traffic
or onto this shore
we gather down here to watch the sun
make its escape from this sky
I myself have disappeared a night or two,
breathed new life in a sunrise
and set out on unsteady limbs
to spy out what remains to be seen
collected or accomplished-
behind me I hear the scraps of songs coming from the bars
doors open
the rhymed words of old-time rebellion spilling forth-
pirates came this way for all we know
though they have been forgotten
and beg now for change on the main thoroughfare
my clothes hang on my frame
a ghost in the land of the walking
a hand-carved stick leads the way
across the streets into an old neighborhood
where everybody calls me by name--
my misstep has made me famous
in this cold season-
the sun lays a furrow upon the sea
that I might stroll upon,
a mis-aligned gait dancing toward
an ancient beach
discovered in the ocean
and painted to mock a last chance
though I do not know anybody on that distant island
I do not know that I fear it
I made a hesitant step in the direction of
death and pain and courage
but I caught little of the local language
I have only a few words
pronounced stiltingly--
I'll point at what I need
and trust the beneficence of whom I meet
wheels turn me, chairs on wheels
and vintage cars nursed along,
behind me parrots and downpours
cigars that will not dry out in the thick salt air-
giants walked here,
arriving by boat and plane,
a train trestled down the archipelago--
now a ruin in the sky, knocked out by a storm
tomorrow, and if not tomorrow
then sometime soon
I will step forward, the westward key,
having survived a momentary swipe
but not sure how-
though I take inventory and pat my pockets for tokens,
all my charms are intact-
I inhale and swell my chest
as I slowly turn my head
and look deeply out to see
