I would like to thank everyone for showing support for my poetry. Some say that no one reads poetry anymore, but evidently that is not the case. In the two months since I started my poetry blog, it has had more than three thousand visits. The top ten countries from which the visits have come are the US, Uruguay, Germany, UK, Chile, Spain, Ireland, Argentina, Canada, and India. The blog has also had visits from Poland, Italy, Venezuela, Guatemala, Turkey, Colombia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Sweden, Norway, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, Mexico, and other countries. Thanks again, and I hope you will continue to enjoy my poetry blog.

QUATRAINS DE NOSSA SENHORA XCVIII - C

CXVIII.
Quando dominan os últimos,
faltarán os primeros,
poder de espiritistas,
bailadores, y ganaderos.

When the last dominate,
the first will fail.
power of spiritualists,
dancers, and ranchers.

XCIX.
A estos se agreguen
pescadores y putas,
quando serán os poetas
os más astutos.

To these may be added
fishers and whores,
when poets will be
the most astute.

C.
O principio va ser
igual que su fin,
nada que perder
y escasso el win.

The beginning will be
the same as its end,
nothing to lose,
and little to win.

4 de dezembro 2016

I AM HERE - II

As a young, idealistic man
I taught an undocumented
dock-worker to read his
own language, and a Venezuelan
family to speak English.
I shared my language with
wonderful Catalán teenagers.

But I am not here
to teach, though it may happen,
but rather to learn,
to absorb this culture,
keeping the good and
rejecting the harmful,
as I did in the "old
country." I am here
to live, to share,
and to flourish.

29 Nov. 2016

I AM HERE

I am here, and I don't think
of being anywhere else.
I've long forgotten the feel of foreign
coins, and customs that were always
foreign to me are more so now.

When I walk my dog in the
fresh evening air, I know
the sights and smells as she
does, though not as intensely,
and the trees and dogs greet us both.

If you ask shall I stay or go,
I'll reply as did Georgia O.*,
with peace in her eyes and on her face:
"Is there another place?"

27 Nov. 2016

* The US artist Georgia O'Keefe, when asked
in the desert of New Mexico whether she
ever thought of living somewhere else,
famously replied with the words of the last
line of the poem.

QUATRAINS DE NOSSA SENHORA

XCVII.
Quando el hemisferio norte
se transforma en ataúd,
entón evita-se la morte
shendo pra o sud.

When the Northern Hemisphere
becomes a coffin,
then death is avoided
by going to the south.

26 de novembro 2016

The Iceplant

Two years old.
As I stared,
fascinated, at
the iceplant flowers,
Mom pulled on
the leash of
the harness I wore.
She didn't want
me to be stung by
the bees, who were
also fascinated.

Five years old.
As I played
with iceplant leaves,
crushing them to
extract the juice,
I saw in my mind
the image of an old
man in a skullcap,
strangely dressed,
working with
plant parts.

The iceplant, like
the lantana and
the star pine,
followed me
six thousand miles.
I have some very
old friends here.

11 Nov. 2016

Standing on the dock,
I catch a bow-line
and fasten it
securely.
The ship's an unlikely
one, broad and
high and short.
But I, at least,
have helped
to bring it
into port.

23 November 2016