Sally the Salamander*

congratulations i said to you

on the day i saw you last

we got diplomas

our parents' proud faces shone

shiny diamonds in a bamboozled

crowd

our wine glasses clicked

empty promises were made

and we toasted to our futures

while eating salmon steaks on Ohio.

those were the days of old when

talk turned out to be expensive but

visions sold on street corners for cheap

we were looking for water then i think

the first time i saw you we were

discussing the situation of that homeless girl

who gave me her furniture as a gift

some kind of healer she turned out be

that Sally the Salamander.

then

you went and stole the sadness from inside

the heart of that indian girl you met

on the bus when you left for Texas

you begged with your sympathy and she spilled her secrets

too naive to understand your mathematical ingenuity

she screamed rape ruined your reputation as a shrink

did you ever get caught for that or did she retract?

maybe that job you took in Houston will make you think

since then

a cold look taints your baby blue eyes

turned red from the ambivilent atonements

you make when you prostrate as a result

of the charges she slapped against you

woke up to find you doing geometry on her back

searching for a sign on her body like

some kind of oracle looking for something special

she screamed when she saw your calculations could be correct

nowadays you shall be waiting

while Sally finishes with her drag queen lover

then you can have your turn to fly

with Sally the Salamander.

for now you

hide from Sally the Salamder

when you fall

you make a spatter of yourself

on the concrete street.

*Salamander is in reference to Octavio Paz's poem entitled Salamander