And I should dedicate this to Eliana since Cuba's home.
Although, I went to an Afro-Cubano dance
experience which I'll probably never recover from
and this is called "Frenzy."
Safe they looked, resting in a tree, the chickens sinking
into their feathers, sinking into the night, soft, peaceful.
The drum.
The singing, mouths opening and opening,
dancers swaying their hips into one another,
sliding up and down.
The bodies loose, yelling in the dark.
The drum, the drum louder.
His thighs thick and frightening.
His eyes searching us rudely and no escape,
vulnerable as chickens.
The drum, the drum quickening his breaths.
The chicken stretched tight as my neck.
Her teeth sinking, sinking into the feathers.
Blood poured from the neck into a cheap plastic cup.
Rum, rum blood poured down our throats.
Drink, said with unparted lips, he moving heavily around us,
hitting our backs hard, hitting our pale fear,
yanking us onto the stage for a cleansing--
una limpia.
The drum inside my neck, louder, louder.
Eggs swept over our bodies to lure out evil spirits.
Our bodies sinking into the ripe, yellow smell
of pineapple, mangoes.
Wild singing, wild heat, heat of the drums.