The Marxist Coffee Mug

The Marxist coffee mug

hid itself in a packing crate,

deep in the excelsior.

Swinging from a dock crane

above ship and below blue summer sky,

the Marxist coffee cup left the bombs and arrests of its homeland

in favor of the welcoming warmth of Castro's Cuba.

Class struggle dissolves

when conga and brass trumpet combine

in the rising air of sultry evenings.

The parrot's wing is 

red for passion,

yellow for unity

and green for plenty, by the hand of the noble proletariat. 

Imagine the alarm of the Marxist coffee mug

when, a day after arriving and being thieved from a government-owned warehouse,

it found itself in the hand of a woman named Consuela

who smashed it over the head

of her unfaithful lover Miguel.

When you dream,

when you love,

and most of all when you take up a cause,

remember the Marxist coffee mug.

Realize how closely the bones inside your flesh

resemble ceramics,

and the white around the sideways eyes

of your fellow traveler,

El Noble Loro de la Revolucion. 

_____

("The Noble Parrot of the Revolution")