Drum Dream Girl

By Margarita Engle
On an island of music
in a city of drumbeats
the drum dream girl
dreamed

of pounding tall conga drums

tapping small bong drums
and boom boom booming
with long, loud sticks
on bit, round, silvery
moon-bright timbales.

But everyone
on the island of music
in the city of drumbeats
believed that only...

Drum Dream Girl

By Margarita Engle
On an island of music
in a city of drumbeats
the drum dream girl
dreamed

of pounding tall conga drums

tapping small bong drums
and boom boom booming
with long, loud sticks
on bit, round, silvery
moon-bright timbales.

But everyone
on the island of music
in the city of drumbeats
believed that only...

Jaguar
By Francisco X. Alarcn
some say
I'm now almost
extinct in this park

but the people

who say this
don't know

that by smelling
the orchids
in the trees

they're sensing
the fragrance
of my chops