HUSHED DREAMS
<
A dry season rain
patters across the tin eaves,
it drips down into
the patio after the
clouds relent. The wind ever-
lasting rustles palm
fronds, rattles the roof, hushing
hopes of this night’s dreams.
>
CARIBBEAN NOCTURNE
>
Waxing moon freshly
arisen, luminescent
above the jungle
silhouetted against the
star-strewn ebony heaven
>
Within this blackness
geckos cluckle & crickets
silver the evening.
Below, the Caribbean Sea
murmurs with its waning tide.
>
ON A FULL MOON NIGHT
>
I.
>
On the past-midnight plaza below
a group of youth play
guitar & sax, their voices
echoing down narrow streets
>
II.
>
After 1 a.m., a red-hooded
young man shrilly whistles
across the plaza, sits next to a
trash can, rifling its contents
>
& at the approach
of a police pick-up, he hastily
weaves down a side street, shrilly
whistling, throwing a plastic bottle
>
at a five-star hotel’s stained glass
window, shrilly whistling, ponding
on a random door, shrilly whistling,
disappearing down a dark alley
>
III.
>
After 2 a.m., from the open window below mine,
a young woman leans out, singing
along to music muffled
by thin headphones
>
PASTORS
>
Along a bank of
the rain-swelled Utcubamba,
a boy blue leads ten
white sheep, a sole ebon lamb
>
Mother in muddy
mourning follows, a heavy
bundle over one
shoulder
& his sister, a
lamb wrapped in a red
mantle across her thin back.
>
A stone bridge they cross,
the waters of that river
flowing swift below,
tumbling against the low arch.
>
& up along the
other bank, disappearing
in the rains that now
again wetten this late day.
Poet-translator Lorraine Caputo’s works appear in over 180 journals on six continents and 12 chapbooks of poetry, including On Galápagos Shores (dancing girl press, 2019). She has done 200+ literary readings, from Alaska to the Patagonia. Caputo travels through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth.
Absolutely gorgeous poems, I felt transported by the strong imagery.
CARIBBEAN NOCTURNE: what a beautiful image, thank you for, “silver the evening.” — so smooth and inviting.
[…] Dreams;” “Caribbean Nocturne,” “On a Full Moon Night” and “Pastors” in The Blue Nib (Ireland) (23 July […]