JULY '02 (Pablo Neruda was right about that town)
2009
JULY '02 (Pablo Neruda was right about that town)
There were tree frogs all over the payphone booth.
I didn't know they lived in the Outer Banks.
Maybe it was a an amphibian family
calling home to Puerto Rico,
to wish their mother a happy birthday.
You were afraid to pick up the receiver,
and when I pinched your ass,
you jumped about a foot into the air
just like a little frog.
When you finally got through
to your mom in Valparaiso
you could barely hear her over the music.
Her new boyfriend had put on a Herbie Hancock record
and was chopping vegetables to the rhythm of the drum brush.
From her pitch even I could tell
that she'd had a few too many glasses of Rioja,
but you smiled because her happiness
was as palpable as the salt in the night air.
I could hear her say "adios cariño, y gracias por llamarme"
as she passed the phone to your sister, Lupita.
With my chin resting on your shoulder,
I recognized her laugh
like yours
the sound of little round stones
bouncing along a riverbed.
You put the speaker to my ear
and Lupita said, in an accented english,
"Hey you gringo, whatsup? Ramon wants to say hello..."
She put Ramon on, and Ramon said nothing
He was Lupita's pet chameleon.
"He's a little...
(Lupita shouted to the kitchen) "Oye mami como se dice timido en ingles!?"
"Shy!" (Vincente, the new boyfriend, from the kitchen)
Lupita: "Ah si, eshai. He's a little eshai today."
she giggled.
"I miss you nenita," I said.
"Ay, que lindo eres, you must be spend too much time with my crazy sister."
Even though the wind had picked up
you heard her and grabbed the receiver,
said something in Spanish,
and your laugh and Lupita's laugh tumbled together
like pebbles in a jar.
Hanging up, you shook your head, smiling
you said "What a little slut!"
Your eyes shone in the streetlight,
irises the color of dark chocolate,
framed with flamenco dancer lashes.
I remembered that we'd left Jonny and Matt waiting at the beach,
and I said "Come on, let's go build a fire and get drunk."
You jumped on my back,
clinging to my shoulders like a little tree frog,
and we headed to the car.
There were tree frogs all over the payphone booth.
I didn't know they lived in the Outer Banks.
Maybe it was a an amphibian family
calling home to Puerto Rico,
to wish their mother a happy birthday.
You were afraid to pick up the receiver,
and when I pinched your ass,
you jumped about a foot into the air
just like a little frog.
When you finally got through
to your mom in Valparaiso
you could barely hear her over the music.
Her new boyfriend had put on a Herbie Hancock record
and was chopping vegetables to the rhythm of the drum brush.
From her pitch even I could tell
that she'd had a few too many glasses of Rioja,
but you smiled because her happiness
was as palpable as the salt in the night air.
I could hear her say "adios cariño, y gracias por llamarme"
as she passed the phone to your sister, Lupita.
With my chin resting on your shoulder,
I recognized her laugh
like yours
the sound of little round stones
bouncing along a riverbed.
You put the speaker to my ear
and Lupita said, in an accented english,
"Hey you gringo, whatsup? Ramon wants to say hello..."
She put Ramon on, and Ramon said nothing
He was Lupita's pet chameleon.
"He's a little...
(Lupita shouted to the kitchen) "Oye mami como se dice timido en ingles!?"
"Shy!" (Vincente, the new boyfriend, from the kitchen)
Lupita: "Ah si, eshai. He's a little eshai today."
she giggled.
"I miss you nenita," I said.
"Ay, que lindo eres, you must be spend too much time with my crazy sister."
Even though the wind had picked up
you heard her and grabbed the receiver,
said something in Spanish,
and your laugh and Lupita's laugh tumbled together
like pebbles in a jar.
Hanging up, you shook your head, smiling
you said "What a little slut!"
Your eyes shone in the streetlight,
irises the color of dark chocolate,
framed with flamenco dancer lashes.
I remembered that we'd left Jonny and Matt waiting at the beach,
and I said "Come on, let's go build a fire and get drunk."
You jumped on my back,
clinging to my shoulders like a little tree frog,
and we headed to the car.
