Visita

1981
in Cuba
looking for
the great poet
Nicolás Guillén
in La Habana
in El Vedado
& on street corners
with ‘Johnny Ordinary’
in bars with
‘Johnny Nobody’ &
between receptions & presentations
at Union of Artistic & Writers
in office of Vice Minister of Culture
in the forest of ruffled tail feathers
at Tropicana night club
& in Santiago
Santiago de Cuba
where José Martí is buried like
                       a perfect poem
where spirit of Antonio Maceo sits like
                       a bronze sunrise
where beauty of Mariana Grajales who
saw her fifteen sons fall into
claws of fifteen buzzards
                       circulates
where blood of heroes illuminate in
deepness of Moncada Barracks
where old trova come leaping from new trova
& we are the trovas on the road to Bayamo
the road where I swear I hear
bass droning voice of Jesús Menendez
I swear I see those black facial gestures
meeting my facial gestures
in brightness of the cane field that
spins before me like a dream of
the sun dressed in fuchsia and
melting into folk lyrics of Camagüey
& merging with lime colored palm leaves
& blowing with tobacco smoke through
X cross section of
everything cross & criss-crossing like bulls
flywings      goats      dry grass      horses      gauchos
& this bus this guaguapulling
into city of huge clay pots
city of clear water
city of charcoal reddish mud
city of caramel sand
city with Indian name Camagüey
Camagüey city
birthplace of Nicolás Guillén
special like the clay pots
caramel like the sand &
in advance of walking on
            Trinidad cobblestones
& before passing Sani Spiritus
            Sierra del Escamray
then returning to
            La Habana
for homage
to Wilfredo Lam
it would be so nice
to meet Nicolás Guillén
here at the friendship house
or in a study circle
or with the Federation of Women
it would be so nice
to meet the poet who
gave us the Riddles
the Tropics
the Great Zoo
& Che Comandante
I would like to meet Nicolás Guillén
before leaving the
1952 turquoise Studebaker
the 1948 red painted Dynaflow Buick
the 1955 lemon yellow Chevy
& the steamrolling
diesel truck in the sky
honk    honk    honk
I would like to meet Nicolás Guillén while
I’m dazzling in the pure energy of Cuba
& getting the same serene feeling I get
after arriving in West Africa
no heavy load of racism on my shoulders
& while I feel happy
about nothing in particular
just happy
like a baby in the baby brigade
like children in child care centers
not fearful of knowing each other
just free & jaunty
you know jauntiness
not in the dumps of
constant depression
not hanging on edge
of an epidemic of stress
but cheerful & sunny
like sun bursting through pollution
on late stormy afternoons understand
not soft not hard core not threatened
but protected
& I would like to
meet Nicolás Guillén
in this mood
in this place
at this time