La Vega

Jennifer Rahim

I

You pass a derelict school
Crutched like an invalid on
Promises of new rooms soon
That outlive times as a rule.
Daily children fringe the road
With blue, like exiled pieces
Of sky. Unnoticed they outgrow
Their standards as the armory
Of razor grass multiplies blades
As keen as youthful smiles.

Next, de Verteuil’s gas station,
A smug monopoly, pours fuel
Into battered cars continually
Drivers seem more relieved,
As erect in gear they leave
Gran Couva’s Lethe to journey
On the La Vega, The Valley
Of the living or the dead

Copyright © Jennifer Rahim