To a poet in old Havana

 To a poet in old Havana 
  
  
 soy poeta
  
 cigarette dangles blue words rapidly 
 through trembling lips
  
  
 soy poeta
  
 image unwrapping, sliding noisy
 tourists’ passing:
 Obispo street
  
  
 soy poeta
  
 inscribing being marks self’s
 own purpose, listening
  
  
 soy poeta
  
 in another square, the
 revolution, polemic flight
 or fight, ideals igualmente
 that have left you
  
  
 hungry poor, reciting here,
 the only meaning that remains:
  
 soy poeta
  
   

© Renée M. Sgroi, 2013


This poem was originally published in Di Leonardo, J. (Ed.), Crossing Baldwin. Toronto: Beret Days Publishing, 2013.