(for Tina Modotti)

crosstalk between them

clear and mystic

on desert cool evenings

the young cadet

touched between the joints

in her elbow

with train-station eyes

flicked curls back behind

his ear

piously respected by

that family of hers

until tequila midnight

beneath cactus blossom

and rattlesnake rhythm

where she was found

asleep deeply by a book

of the erotica of Anais Nin

Given – wet – by him

and another concerning modes

of dressing in the mod

and cigarette holders