Back to Paradise

“Paradise” said Mom, Dad, Brochure

Brother swims in the pool and lounges on the beach:

“Pretty cool, but no videogames.”

Clouds shaped like octopi, cupcakes, and

Desk lamps idly swim through the sky

Paradise is banal by day three

 

So I run, it’s what I do

Feel drops of rain and my own sweat

Mixing, accumulating, and sliding from

The base of my skull to the small of my back

Feel sand bite at my claves, scratch my pedicured feet

 

Run to the villages surrounding “Paradise”

Hidden by peaceful palms and white beaches

To see what I’ll never worry about

To see what they need

Micro-financing, water purifiers, inoculations,

Education, a warm, dry place to live

 

But they’re trying to escape the cycle

Fix the economy

That stuff my history teacher talks about

 

So I run, it’s what I do

Feel the sultry air weighing in my lungs

Kicked up sand coating the inside of my nose

Back to Paradise

With seas once bluer than the sky now bowed

Dark like the shadows the hotel leaves on the sand

 Fluffy clouds spoiled, changed into towering

Anvils that spit lights and sounds

¿El Paraíso o el Infierno?