The Body of Charro's Daughter

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In Hawaii at the beach    behind a house
that he was told    is Charro’s
Pahn saw a young woman                           
with a compact    and curvy body

She was with a man                                        
                              undoubtedly her husband
who had speared a big fish    and
was showing it to their son

He had classic    Mediterranean good looks
the tan of leisure                                     
the physique                             
of well regulated sport

Pahn couldn’t help wondering                        
      how foreign the woman’s world might seem
if he could know it                     

how she spent her time                                
did she like to cook?                           
           did her mother approve of her husband?
how did she meet him?                     
                     and could she relate to someone like Pahn?
…

By the dunes
                                      thinking about a movie
                                seeing two fugitives
Michael Caine and Sydney Poitier
                            running into a field
                                joined by a Russian
                       and a tall man
                              their pursuers close behind
 
                     The Russian shoots the tall man  
            then tells himself
                         to slow and confuse

while Pahn runs toward the river    
diving in                                                                 

The river bends
                                           around the head of the hemisphere
                           into an Italian bay

Pahn climbs out of the water
          He can smell the mud flats
and Italian fishing boats are speeding
                                                  to the open water

Walking up the bright sand                                    
to an old and sun-bleached hotel
of Carmel sandstone
Pahn finds a thin woman                            
wearing a scarf skirt                    
speaking English
            in the middle of giving a tour
                                    alone    to herself

She tells of the last owners
of how they put clear glass
in the windows
               because the guests wanted to see the view
 Pahn tries to imagine what was in the windows before                                                           he notices
that the window frames are metal
and very rusted
                     One is missing

He asks her    when they were installed
                Thinking it must have been the thirties
                     when such windows were popular

She walks toward the water
past women in bikinis
climbs into a kayak
paddles around
                                     for a few minutes in the bay
and returns with a bag of tiny biscuits
which she has baked
                                                on the water

She tosses them to Pahn
                                             one at a time
as he tries to catch them
                                            in his mouth

He is hungry    for her    and the biscuits
So she offers him panini
                                               of whole wheat bread
                                      and Prociutto
                                         with cheese 
Pahn thinks to himself that prociutto is left over
from a time when there was no refrigeration

…

Pahn is in coastal California
someplace like Davenport
with Aiks, Eeunks and Daphnis

They are staying in a 19th century hotel
in the center of town
dragging up their luggage
checking out the room
         eating in the restaurant  
 
    Leaving    and returning       to the restaurant
 
                                they find the hostess topless
 
                                   and the waitress naked

Looking at the                 waitress
                                 Pahn expects to be excited
but she seems unfriendly
                                  and he finds no arousal

But the                 hostess                                       
who is in the body of Charro’s daughter
calls Pahn into an empty room                        
and hugs him

At this point
           a tall middle aged man
                                with a cowboy hat and plaid shirt
                                                          his neck
                            red and wrinkled
    comes into the room
    admonishing Pahn
                            in a vaguely threatening manner

But Pahn ignores him                                      
being too happy
                                in the arms of the hostess
             to be distracted

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