POETRY 3


Soon to be ex-lover
Pretending she was all
While she just pretended all

It had started in Old San Juan
Sitting on a centuries old wall
3 o'clock in the morning
He had wanted a kiss
And she said no
She had wanted more
He left the West Indies
Not before inviting her
And his New York number
Written with haste
Weighed her down
But she duly went home
To another
Who rode waves during the days
Who waited for her
Two blocks, a cobblestone away
She had wanted more
The next day
The rider of waves was gone.

So they settled
Into a Winter Thing
Not yet lovers
Leaving the past in
Warm islands of dreams
Soon to be ex-lovers

She will later
Return to a blast
Of humid warm
Puerto Rican air
And sit by the bay
Composing him a letter
With the sweet tingle
Of an early morning San Juan breeze
Where before the sun rose in January
It felt like April in New York