(Columbus in chains
on a caravel bound for Spain in 1500)
Cochineal skies deepen to dark purple
just after sunset
Icarus quivers in molten clay and sand
on Cuba’s shores
The sea rolls mazarin
with a frost of emerald
A flash of place
beyond the sun’s extinction
Crescent of sea, arc of space
where west squires east
and shapes share secrets
of golden arms
burnished madonnas
mother-of-pearl
