Where the moon’s a canoe on a slate-blue lake,
and the chirr of cicadas loose violin strings,
the clouds of uncountable butterfly wings
confuse things. A phrase may contain a mistake.

Aguas means “Watch out!” The water’s your clue.
Mi vida means “Sweetheart” extends to the trees.
Te quierro: I want more than I love you.
Loteria:  the poor man’s Monopoly-

cum-Bingo with beans you put back in the jar.
El alma, the soul, rises from an old street
where more than one soul’s disappeared in a bar
beside the new kiosk for tourist police.

El cuerpo:  the corps, and the body alone.
Mi cielo: there must be ten more ways to say,
You are Heaven. Amor, he will ask you to stay.
El chiste—the joke—is a necklace of bone.