Overheard at Table 3: Three Poems for Arboles de Fuego

 2023-0924

To dream of
the shore, the black sand,
the birds in the palm trees
behind you,
as you gaze outward
to the Pacific:
the ocean blue
melds with the sky
and their marriage
renders each
indistinguishable



2023-0924

The motion of bodies
in line
waiting for COVID tests
in Sonsonate that
day outside the
streets parked with
cars and packed
with people,
the smell of
diesel and pupusas
and beer flooded
the air and the
paint peeled back
from 18th century walls,
and the electrical cables
above the buildings were
like a tangulated web of
synapsed wires,
like a
coal-streaked brain
that had seen
too many
summertimes


2023-0924

She said she needs a quick weekend away
to rest before her foot operation
And so, I booked a house in Texas Hills,
She said, “Thanks … but I need El Salvador”

Flowers can be transplanted to new soil,
But each petal will always yearn for home.


#iamvicpentameter

Overheard at Table 3: Arboles de Fuego

2023-0615

La Playa de Bahia Dorada

The edge of each final wave that laps the shore;
A row of tiny white horses galloping up the strand.


2023-0615

Refrán

El Arbol de la Quina

Esta siempre a tu lado,
Porqué esquina.


2023-0616

Al Puro Surf, El Zonte, La Libertad

The crooked limbs of the Suessian tree
framing the picture-perfect ocean waves
upon which a happy surfer rides
the crest, until the board and
rider part ways,
each of them flung into the air.

And the waves marches
joyfully toward
the shore.