Norma in Wonderland

A man is picking
Almonds in the cool
Morning. I listen
To the thump of the
Nuts. Then the
Apparition of a large
Gray rabbit scurries
Down the bank beneath
Him. That couldn’t have
Been a Rabbit, I think. But
Later when I ask what large
Gray animal might live here,
Rafael says a liebre and they’re
Very good to eat. No wonder Liebre
Was in such a hurry to scurry.
Liebre wants to be libre.

The Flamenco Singer

The singer closes his eyes
His voice comes from inside
His tears. Pouring
his body into his song, his
heart sings to night,
to the stars, the moon.

Listen.

The guitarist offers sympathy,
a variation on his song.

But the singer has the last
word, and his hands
dismiss the effort to sing it.

Sea Alhambra

You can climb the lacy white rock
and walk on top to look down on
the deep aqua pools. You can jump
in to swim the calm clear waters.
Fishermen on the other side
of the Alhambra of the Sea
cast their nets out toward Morocco.
You can imagine ancient Moors
living in this cove and later
their descendants moving north to
Granada. There the artists who
made the festooned ceilings must have
dreamed of the honeycombed art of
Los Arcos.

Leila or Perejil*

On a stone island
near a land of a thousand deserts.
an old man riding a white mule
carries his star on Leila.

Where is he going? Why?
Wanting this Perejil, claimed by Spain
--tug of war between two flags--
Rock of Spain or Morocco?

His star.

*The Moroccans call the island they
occupied on July 11 Leila (which
means night); the Spanish name for
the island is Perejil (meaning parsley).

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