The Turtles’ Tank Needs To Be Cleaned, There is no turning back.

The Turtles’ tank needs to be cleaned.
It is Monday.
If it is Monday I must be driving away.
If I am driving away,
I must be listening to the radio.
K.C. and the Sunshine band is singing
“Please Don’t Go Away.”
If K.C. and the Sunshine band is singing
“Please Don’t go Away,”
and it is Monday, then I must be crying.
If I am crying while I am driving away
and it is Monday and K.C. and the Sunshine
Band is singing, then it must be August 1981.
If it is August 1981, then I am twenty-one.
If I am 21 years old in August, I was just
married. If I am twenty-one years old
then I must be in Florida.
If it is August in Florida then there is a hurricane.
If there is a hurricane, then there is an eye of a storm.
If there are eyes,
they must be watching.
If they are watching
then they are standing.
If they are standing
then they are running.
If they are running
then they are swimming
If they are swimming
then it must be 1979.
If it is 1979, Jimmy Carter is President.
If Jimmy Carter is President, then
The Mariel is headed this way.
If The Mariel is headed this way,
Miami will never be the same.
If Miami will never be the same,
then it must be 1959. If it is 1959, then
I have not been born.
If I have not been born,
my mother is getting married.
If my mother is getting married,
then she is soon to regret.
If there is regret, there is no turning back.

Waiting on the Sun

An old weathered man named you
ray through clouds when you offered him
a ride from Petaluma to Novato.

Tomatoes and California avocados
became ripe in the back of your truck.

You said a weathered old man named
you ray through clouds one day
when you gave him a ride from
Sonoma to Santa Rosa.

There are phone booths by the side
of the road. There are hitchhikers
by the side of the road.
There are vineyards by the side of the road.
There goes the tumbleweed.

You said you gave a weathered old man
a ride while from the back of your truck
birds of paradise and poppy flowers sprouted.

You said an old weathered man named you
ray through clouds when you gave him
a ride from Sebastopol to Manzana.

I was busy picking up stones from
the bottom of the Russian River.
I was weighing the consequences.
I was speaking to a Redwood.
I was burying my hand into the sand.
I was talking to a clam.
I was having my belly cut open.
I was eating cake with the moon.
I was dancing the tango with salmon.
I was waiting for the sun to stop revolving.
Or was it the other way around?  

Dulce Maria Menendez, also known as Didi, is an American Cuban and a single parent of four. She publishes several literary magazines that have been recognized by Best American Poetry and the Pushcart Prize.