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Issue # 6 January 2012
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Louis Slee


 

The Crabs of Cardenas

The manglares empty los carngrejos,
gray crabs from swamps and mangrove trees
along the coastal beaches of Cardenas, Cuba .

They march by the thousands to the bay,
a tap dancing army of crustaceans
soldiers of fortune commanded by instinct.

The long-legged grays mad with desire
dash to deliver their fertile cargoes
to brackish pools with seaweed cribs.

The natives wait for the season of change,
the primeval signal to escape from the swamps
and mangrove trees pregnant with hope.