On the kitchen terrace
all these dirty plates come back
laced with
discarded lemon slices
bits of bread, rice, napkin .
Three hundred fashionable wives
and daughters have eaten
stuffed chicken breasts
sitting under umbrellas
around a sparkling pool
that supermarkets built .
Spanish mixes with English
for the artists, the ladies,
the tecno-pop with a view of
golf course
as fashion show
begins .
Models and waiters pass
each other on poolside stairs
both sport their livery costume
only one arouses
that
constant applause .
- These are their daughters, gringo -
chef Ramon tells the poet
- and I shall be eternally grateful for
you helping me serve them today
but now is the time
to prepare
their desert postre
and then begin the auction
so that hungry orphans
may eat next year . -