'Hortencia'

		Hortencia

Hortencia's face changes 
In flashes and guises.
Her eyes and teeth gleam
Like Indians' arrows.

With laughter vibrato
Like a charming child's.
Hotencia leans over social
Tables to stir talk.

Above the hotel room's phone,
Though, Hottencia's brow creases
With compassion as a paitent
She's called tells the psicilogo his problems.

Her clothes for the street
Display many pockets,
Her boots like a Governor's--
Or, bettter yet, a buccaneer's.
About her apartment, though,
Hortencia pads barefoot,
Stout, her skin of cocoa-butter brown,
Like an Indian in the forest.

				First version July 1983