In a Cuban restaurant,
a baby born of Boston
borders howls
for the plaintains
of her parents' language.
But instead, she nurses
on two worlds.

We're at this table
in a corner, under
a Cuban map
that notes Columbus'
landmark campaign against
their culture, ours began.

Then, came Irish and German,
some Russian and Dutch
descent, the plaintains
taste erotic on our tongues.
They have become our scepter
of last night, when--
we touched, chaste, in Boston,
in a 1920s-built tenament.

This culture of ours,
of that baby, here in El Oriental,
is full of such desires
left to the howl of wanting.

02/19/2007

Posted on 02/20/2007
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