Guardian Exercise Poem,

which doesn't conform terribly well to the instructions, but so be it. Any corrections to my laughable Spanish would be appreciated.


Destello Verde

My love, we need to mean these words
we have only practiced pronouncing:
por favor, cuanto cuesta, donde esta,
gracias, sabrosa. There is our short cut
under Orion, hunting down
to where the town begins.

Please can't we stay here in comfort
on our terrace punctuated by hibiscus
and diluted sangria, talking of pelicans
under the patterns cast
by pierced metal stars?

How much might it cost us to wait
for a taxi? Falter through the gate
to a bougainvillea path lit only
by pale bracts, pressed memories of moons.
Dusk comes steeper than we're accustomed to.

Where is the applause of the sea at sunset?
Manufactured waterfalls are still too near,
under a stucco facade where men dangled
themselves from old ropes over a precipice
like this one, bristling with rebar. Take my hand.

Thank you, my heart. Just one more flight
of steps left now; we're past the overgrowth
where wild roosters mocked us into morning.
Mind the low awning outside that store
locked full of chameleon vases, silver eyes.

Delicious on the waterfront at Las Palomas, we arrive
believing the fortissimo gossip of orange trumpet vines.
Salvador offers us the special. Take this goblet, drown
the cutlery with azure fire and let us spend tomorrow's
hummingbirds. Already, a meteor melts on my tongue.




The title is supposed to mean "Green Flash". Does it?