Birds Do Not Sweat.

1. The roosters roamed the dirt,

beer bottles, abandoned

Coconuts. We’re listening

to them on our backs.

Birds do not sweat.

2. In the Philippines, 

we never throw out the rice.

Each grain will fill our guts until

tomorrow and we’ll do this day

Again and again. By this time

the room is hissing and our

bare calloused feet are planted

on dusty kitchen tile and we

have fried rice for eight.

3. We know the stairs were made for 

small people. Our toenails just barely

meet the sloped wood stair steps. 

4. Our mother was an island girl who 

could not swim. She was surrounded

by cement blocks and dirt roads and 

motorcyclists with blind eyes

5. We saw a man piss in the streets.

He was gone in a second as we

passed, but we remembered his

Face: unAmerican. Distorted. 

6. Our market is filled with chatter and

we were told to keep quiet here. But

we’ve been quiet on the boat, on

the walk here, the sticky restaurant,

and in the solitude of our room.