Poems

Branches of Thirst

Beneath the shadow of a spiny acacia
two bodies stutter together
before their nakedness
while half a desert
separates them from the oasis.
 
In Santiago Bay
someone beat a drum
and shouted magical primitive words
in Hassaniya or Amharic
In Mandinka or Spanish.
 
From the Canaletas fountain
a missive arrived in Catalan
with a map and everything
announcing that that lost camel
without writing and unbranded
can be a water tunnel.