polygamy

I thought about it then
brought them to meet my
parents. We were three
and arrived late at the club

where they were Sundays
A table for five set
under an awning
riddled with leaves;

vines. A white cherumbim
arced his urine from high
above the end plaza

Before I said anything
Donald put out his hand
and Juan his and suddenly
they knew my parents

We ate and charmed them
but somewhere near the flan
we told them our plans
and they stopped eating

Didn’t look at each other just
stared at us—jaws not slack
predictably so

She slapped down her napkin
We tried mind warfare
She threatened to take my money
that was really their money

And surprising no one
my father began to cry
because he knew my back
better than any part of me

They had already offered Juan
a managerial position
at the plastics factory
before the fact,

exposition—
false leaves off-
colored and lewd angels
one shatters with a hammer

We still thanked them
and rose to leave, on the way
the three of us stopping to
piss in the fountain.