Santo Domingo

    In the crypt with Columbus
    in the crypt with Giovanni
    of Genoa, the diaspora driven Jew;
    watching flecks of the cathedral floor
    jade-eyed and mica afraid
    yawning down brown the abyss, his skeletal coffin
    thin accae wood,
    phlegm coloured
    flamed ointment
    of the saints
    in holy water
    bridging the little centuries.

    2
    Serpentine heavens
    in coiled stars
    heaving like passion fruit
    hung down piano wire.

    3
    Meteors douse the light
    of black stems,
    eye holes cut of old Spanish
    sailors; thin ghosts
    plundering night.

    4
    Melange tableaux
    peut-étre les étoiles
    sont oiseaux.