Soneto Cubano

by Joe Richey

Cuba, I tried to explain, is not just
a place where six square walls reside.
Eleven million people raised on revolution live there today.

Remember Fidel Castro’s campesino army’s triumph January 1, 1959.
Victory is especially sweet
when 75% of your army are liberated sugar workers.

An early tourist of the Cuban Revolution,
Jean – Paul Sartre later asks:
“Is building on sugar better than building on sand ?”

Born in ’58 the Cuban Revolution, upon those shifting sands,
one month into my first news – exposed life,
Fidel Castro took La Habana and lit one big fat stogie,

Like my grandfather did that day for different reasons,
More to do with smoke than sugar.