Lares: earthly inspiration: oration for coca*
                  * Carmen Alonzo Muniz Fuster

grainy gingerbread
breathing like an earth toad
thickset along the gritty road

creeping slowly across Edwin's oatmeal eyes
your caverns echo phoneme
carved into the bark of your coffee
peaking within woven leaves
branches and morning haze

in the distance the murmuring roosters
bobbing to a bolero

arms and legs cut the mist hand pulling
feet pushing blade pruning
your rhythmic hand on the washboard
accompanying pandera and tambourine

on the cassette
an improvised song of jealous knife
and revenging pistol

Lares

cup of my syllables
the anarchist speaks of you as a rifle in the hills

but within the foliage of this mountainous countryside
it is only Coca tending kitchen

Boricua soul sauce taking off

Américo Casiano Jr.