Back to Issue Sixteen.

Nocturne in a Red House in Bocas del Toro

BY LILLIAN KWOK

 

She works in a red house, sells rice and beans
and chicken curry. Stirs pots

pours coffee all day. Men

came and went. Men
in their wooden boats going
to the next island not

further. The beating of the summer rains
is a kind of beating too. Likewise

a love
for the heavy palms. The dirt road

under her bare
feet. The taste of coconut water

from the man
who walks around town splitting
them with a machete

for less than a dollar. Easy

to swallow.
Into the mouth of the bull and

out of sight.

Lillian Kwok is originally from Philadelphia, and now lives and studies in Sweden. Her work has been published in The Cortland Review, Paper Darts, Salt Hill, and other journals. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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