AMERICAN AIRLINES PUTS US IN FIRST CLASS MIAMI TO PORT-AU-PRINCE AFTER A 24-HOUR DELAY
Greets us with champagne
as we sit in our seats,
feeds us chilled salmon over greens,
pita chips & red pepper hummus,
wine with our meal.
The warmed cookies for desert
we share with Roger Jean Charles &
Pere Max who have waited two hours
at the airport damaged in quake.
We depart to rows of men
offering to carry bags—
some with one hand lost
to falling buildings and debris.
As I drizzled sesame dressing
over salmon salad greens,
I was uncomfortable,
aware of extremes,
think about it again
under a drizzle of shower
only a 1/16 inch stream
in a concrete bungalow in Montrouis,
mosquito nets draped over cots,
jalousie windows closed against bugs,
fan rotating until 11 P.M.
when the generator goes off
until morning.
Appeared in Exit 13
and the chapbook George Sand’s Haiti
