By TINA CANE
Like yesterday
I could have cried with relief driving around
this little city running errands with mariachi rancheras blasting
on my radio making the everyday feel extravagant like being
in a film about running errands or some other earlier version
of myself listening to a mariachi band in Garibaldi Square
coveting the mariachero’s spangled pants as he paid homage
to lost loves and the dead playing his accordion nonetheless
with an exuberance that made even the prospect of heartache
or the end seem powerless to break anything ever again
Tina Cane served as poet laureate of Rhode Island from 2016 to 2024. Her books include Dear Elena: Letters for Elena Ferrante, Once More With Feeling, Body of Work, Year of the Murder Hornet, and the verse novels for younger readers Alma Presses Play and Are You Nobody Too?.
