From: CAROLINA CUBAN (1985)

Waiting Game

A Cuban has holed himself
up in a sleeping car in Raleigh, North Carolina.
He has been there since Friday and
today it is Sunday.
He has shot and killed his wife.
His daughter, who is nine months old, has dehydrated.
His son, who is four, occupies the hours
asking his mother to wake up.

One Cuban of uncertain origins and destination
has locked himself up
in a sleeping car in a sleeping city
and the swat teams lie in wait.
They wait:
for the son to stop talking
for the father to start shooting
for the dead to start rotting
for the crisis to resolve itself
peacefully and without incident.