We present this work in honor of the 30th anniversary of the poet’s death.

Cuban
1902 – 1989
This is hunger. An animal
all fangs and eyes.
It cannot be distracted or deceived.
It is not satisfied with one meal.
It is not content
with a lunch or a dinner.
Always threatens blood.
Roars like alion, squeezes like a boa,
thinks like a person.
The specimen before you
Was captured in India (outskirts of Bombay),
but it exists in a more or less savage state
in many others places.
Please stand back.