In Villa O’Higgins

JORGEJORGEJORGE
hisses the CB radio in his kitchen;
in the winter it is his house
and in the summer he lets
out the rooms –
he presses the button;

BRUNYBRUNYBRUNY
Jorge is Spanish and his Sses sound
like THs; everyone in town
knows he is a bit different, but,
he says, they are all a bit
different; that’s how you come to live
at the end of the road.

Bruny is short for Brunhilda and she runs
the mini-mercado that her ex-husband
built for her; it has a dozen shelves
and a cooler, little boxes
in the corner: duraznos, papas,
cebollas; sometimes there are tomatoes,
but not now –

She sleeps in back
and when his house is full
Jorge sleeps there too; the wind howls
through her plexiglass windows, blows
a thousand tiny receipts to the floor; Jorge
is building a new store for her
but it isn’t ready yet;

Bruny is angry and now she isn’t free
for the night anymore; she’s tomando algo
with Hans who runs the only boat across
Lago O’Higgins; Jorge shrugs and cooks
Spaghetti Bolognese

JORGEJORGEJORGE
Bruny wants to know where he is
and why he hasn’t come to apologize;
She is angling for that last explosive
moment of the fight; He smiles:
she is difficult