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Margarita
Engle is a botanist and the Cuban-American
author of several books about the island,
most recently The Poet Slave of Cuba (Henry
Holt & Co., April, 2006). Short works
appear in journals such as Atlanta Review,
California Quarterly, Caribbean Writer,
Hawai'i Pacific Review, and Nimrod. Awards
include a Cintas Fellowship, a San Diego
Book Award, and a 2005 Willow Review Poetry
Award. Margarita lives in central California,
where she enjoys hiking in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains.
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When
the world was
flat
there
were unexplored
corners for
hiding.
Roundness
brought gravity
and rotation,
an
orbit, expansion
of the galaxy,
continental
drift,
and
incomprehensible
distances
measured
in light years.
Dizziness
and confusion
are now the
norm.
We
spin through
our days, nostalgic
for serenity.
When
the world was
flat
there
were sea monsters
and mermaids.
Roundness
brought travel,
communications,
the
information
age, and familiarity,
the
illusion of
knowledge.
Scorpion
dreams...
Two
poets take turns
trying
to console
a
weeping dolphin
at
the cool marble center
of
a tropical fountain
in
torrid Havana.
Prayers
turn into birds
souls
are birds in trees
a
child becomes a bird
instead
of dying...
In
a land where the women
were
once macaws
can
their sons
fly?
Island Proportions
Cuba
is home
to
the world's tiniest hummingbird
el
zunzuncito
the
size of a bee
along
with pygmy owls
giant
kingbirds
greater
flamingos
and
the world's tiniest frog
largest
cactus
smallest
bat
highest
hopes.
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