Gran Frijolada

-- for Idelfonso Ramos on the anniversary of his death

Here we are

My brother

It’s time it’s that time again

For the gran frijolada

The yearly mess of beans

I cook up Cuban-style

In your honor

The beans are soaking

My secret ingredient is ready

Here we are

You are on the other side

Resolviendo

Getting done whatever it is

That gets done

On the lush island that is death

On the isle of memory and grateful forgetting

Always 90 miles

Always an inch away

There you are

Still making the documentary of your life

And me

The gringo whose life you saved

With a couch and an abrazo

I’ve still got one foot

Planted and dancing in the dirt of time

The other

Where else?

In my mouth

That won’t stop singing

Here we are

A celebration that must always be improvised  

Motivito to welcome some minute arrived from afar

From thin air you pull

An armful of icy beers

Like rabbits from a magician’s hat

Son de la Loma

Blasting from the cassette player

Heard all down the street

The neighbors dancing too

Heard by lovers

As far off

As the malecón

I can hear it again now

Trio Matamoros

Who wouldn’t dance in your presence?

Your shadow dancing

With a permanent

Smile and hard-on

Stars and cancer everywhere

Here we are

Here we are

Idel

Dumbstruck and far flung

Shipwrecked and rescued

Sheer luck everywhere

Full of beans and magic

                        -- New York, 31 December 2013