Capitán Capital
Look at you, there in the road
watching the clouds amass
and blacken
Where’ll you go
Once everything’s flooded?
The Erie Canal
And the St. Lawrence Seaway
will merge
Who knows
Will you row?
Or roll? or hole
Up in your place
Waiting for news — in a garden
Of rumors (polluted and looted
Like everything else
It depends on the season
And how many cans of food
You can stash
And don’t tell an ear
Of the cache of beans
You can give away some
But be discreet
Say you found them
in the street
The cans of beans
And cans of sardines
I’d eat with the cat
As you napped in your crib
The walks to the swings
And the slides
And the rides in the cars
Of the trains
Crashing over the bridge
The times by the Tiber
And over in Rome, New York, by the fort
That was blackened by rain
And the Mohawk — which translates
To something akin to the cannibal river
The cannibal Capitán Capital’s coming
Along in his ship
With his chains and his locks
On the hunt for more rocks
Out of which to make chains and locks
ad mortem
Polluting and looting
As clouds amass
On every horizon
And where’ll you go
Will you row?
Or roll
On a bicycle
Holding a two-year-old
Cold and damp
In a refugee camp
Like everyone else
Who knows
