"Can I borrow two eggs?"


LIKE ASKING YOUR NEIGHBOR
TO BORROW TWO EGGS

                --for Jane Lipman

Asking for Federico
gets one in the door
por su puesto, siempre
duen de la casa, ¡Grite--

como Mexicano! carnal--
language always rises--
¡Grite! he dicho, ¡Palabras!
Words march around walls

singing. Hey! As a child
I never cut in lunch lines.
I turned outlaw--
fugitivo--ahora, también, no podría

hacerlo. I can't do it.
The duen de la casa
would have exposed me
by pulling my chair--

after I got through
the door. Ay, cabrón--,
There is only one Federico
Among so many animal paths.

Jim Bodeen
27 February 2019¡



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