Una Lección de Tambora
Judith KermanSitting on a concrete bench
in the shade of the Museo’s
towering concrete wall
DA-ga-taa!
with Muñeco
whose name means "Doll-Baby"
and they’ve got that right
expresso skin and white smile,
sonrisa como sunrise en la noche y
his fast hands
DA-ga-taa!
el calor del sol
moves slowly toward us
la luz y la sombra
and a gardener is watering
a faint smell of sewage
de la tierra mojada
y los niños escolares
walk by in their matching blue blouses
to visit the Taino Indian exhibits
stop, fascinados
by the big Americana, vieja
como mi abuela
a pañuelo round her head
keeping sweat
from her eyes
drumming
DA-ga-taa!
Judith Kerman was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in the Dominican
Republic in 2002. Her most recent books are Plane Surfaces/
Plano de Incidencia, a bilingual selection of poems with
Domingo, and Dulce María Loynaz: A Woman in Her Garden,
translations of the translations by Johnny Durán, published in
Santo Domingo, and Dulce María Loynaz: A Woman in Her Garden,
translations of the Cervantes-prize winning Cuban poet, published
by White Pine Press. She teaches English and coordinates
and teaches in the Masters program in Communication and Multimedia
at Saginaw Valley State University.