FAMILY CAMPING

We sleep in huts

made of leafy green branches,

all the children sneaking out

at midnight

to chase red crabs,

watch enormous turtles,

and dream beneath

glowing stars

as they glide

across dark sky

forming the ancient shapes

of magnificent constellations—

a winged horse, a dolphin,

a dragon, the Milky Way.

Does that hunter made of stars

use his arrows to shoot ordinary deer,

or is he seeking treasures that no one on Earth

has ever imagined?

Maybe all he wants to chase is the glow

of his own heavenly surroundings.

Stories come easily

as I combine old fairy tales

with my own curious rush

of new visions.

While stargazing in the wilderness,

I remember the tales of A Thousand and One Nights,

and then I change them.

Don Quixote.

Spain’s Golden Age poets.

Native Miskito legends.

All are fair game when it comes to hunting

for unwritten star wishes.