from Archaeology 
					Catacamas, Honduras

1.

Every morning the air burns
The mangoes rock on their stems
as the same cat climbs to the hotel roof
where loose tiles are caught in a rusting gutter

Morning means smoke
and afternoon means smoke
and evening mingles smoke 
with the damp breath of grasses

Machetes take root in hands
scars bloom on trees where mangoes hang
ornaments to the rainy season
plumb lines to the southern cross

Not every machete strikes the courtyard tree
Not every bottle ends up shattered    embedded
in the garden wall    Not all poverty 
bares its swollen belly 

in the arms of a shrunken mother