Land of Lakes and Volcanos
Dove of the woods resounding
in the wind, with the axes, with the birds
and wild bulls, I greet you, for you are my life.
—Ruben Dario, “Way Far Away”
The ravine-guard hatchling lives
in the safeguard of the nest
until he’s fully feathered and sings
the song his parents sing.
Mother tells me, “You’re like a ravine-guard
lost in the rainforest,
and you’ll never miss home because we left
when you were still a hatchling.”
She cooks native dishes
and tells stories of their days.
“You’ll learn what home is like
as if you never left,” she continues.
She tells me of the lakes and volcanoes,
and the rivers that flow
from Bluefields to Corinto—
The Selva Negra where
she once got lost birdwatching
and found no trail to return home.
What does it mean to be home?
Father sings songs about home,
and with every note of his raspy tone,
and every strum of his guitar,
I am transported to this untitled place
handed down to me
by the hands that draw the map.
Manners, A Fool Does Not Make
Then:
The early mountain breeze
and the morning sun woke him
to buttered toast and coffee.
Abuela had him wait
by the front door for the young girl
who brought the goat milk.
He counted the hill tops
over the rainbow colored houses
with the terra cotta roof tiles.
To encourage him to drink goat milk,
she told him, “When this goat was a kid,
she was nursed by a dairy cow,
and this makes her milk special.”
Now:
Father takes me to visit Abuela;
not much has changed.
She still waits for the fresh goat milk
while the bread toasts
and the coffee brews.
When I refuse to drink the milk,
Father tells me the same story
she told him when he was young.
I drink the “special milk”
and ask for another one, por favor.
She gives him an approving smile.
I drink to make Father look good
and Abuela proud.
I, too, may be telling
the same story years from now.
Onnyx Bei is a new voice in the poetry world. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Columbia Journal's Catch & Release, Glass Mountain, Mad Hatter Review, Midtown Journal, Red Cedar Review, and others. He is a recipient of the Susan T. Scanlon Poetry Award and the Danny Lee Lawrence Poetry Award.