La Desaparecida

Kevin Roddy

In Buenos Aires, the men sit stirring

Their thick espressos, rapidly stirring

Small cups of coffee, adding sugar, still

Rapidly stirring their small espressos.

 

She has been arrested and beaten, she

Tries to remember her poetry, her

Music, her eyes cracked and sharp serrations

Her cheek bones honed as if with a whetstone.

 

In Buenos Aires, the men sit stirring

Their thick espressos, mindlessly stirring

Small cups of coffee, adding sugar, still

Mindlessly stirring their small espressos.

 

She has no spirit for any dull rites

Of interrogation, they seem to need

Ceremonies to make her death that much

Less ridiculous, something less to miss.

 

In Buenos Aires, the men sit stirring

Their thick espressos, endlessly stirring

Small cups of coffee, adding sugar, still

Endlessly stirring their small espressos.