By Victor Hernández Cruz
A campesino looked at the air
And told me:
With hurricanes it's not the wind
or the noise or the water.
I'll tell you he said:
it's the mangoes, avocados
Green plantains and bananas
flying into town like projectiles.
How would your family
feel if they had to tell
The generations that you
got killed by a flying
Banana.
Death by drowning has honor
If the wind picked you up
and slammed you
Against a mountain boulder
This would not carry shame
But
to suffer a mango smashing
Your skull
or a plantain hitting your
Temple at 70 miles per hour
is the ultimate disgrace.
The campesino takes off his hat—
As a sign of respect
toward the fury of the wind
And says:
Don't worry about the noise
Don't worry about the water
Don't worry about the wind—
If you are going out
beware of mangoes
And all such beautiful
sweet things.
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We had a pretty quiet Sunday waiting for the storm. It was cloudy and overcast all day but we didn't get any rain until after dark and it's still just drippy, nothing like we've been warned to expect tomorrow. Neither of my kids has school on Monday -- both the county and the university have canceled classes -- and Paul doesn't have to go to work, as the local offices of his company are all closed. So we did things like getting Halloween candy, in case the stores are closed between now and then, and doing laundry, in case we have no electricity to wash the bulky items next week. We missed the Redskins game, which ended badly anyway, and saw about half of the Giants-Cowboys game, though I was mostly rejoicing that the Eagles had lost. Congrats to the other Giants!
In between chores at home, we went to the C&O Canal to walk a bit on the path by the river, which was so still and glassy that it was hard to believe a huge storm was coming. We also stopped at the Bethesda Co-op for non-perishables in case we have to empty our freezer, so that was mostly organic snacks and a bottle of sangria! We were subjected to endless election related advertising and robocalls and I've lost another friend on Facebook whom I never judged when she told me about various bad behavior at work but who apparently cannot handle having Republican distortions debated. I've decided I'll vote for Question 7, the casino referendum, if they'll do one ad supporting Question 6 and showing gay marriages taking place at the proposed casino!
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