THE DISAPPEARED ONE

June showers in a heat

fall into our picnic basket

it must have taken hours 

when the barbecue flames

rose on the lawn

in the smoke by the gate

under the tent of crickets

this Sunday 

we heard a Beat poet's

parched voice

fading from view

on the street between rains

reading of his experiences

in locating the names

of orphans from the Argentine
called "the disappeared"
of whom Jesus was one
were hunted and rounded up

by the military state
almost vanished

whom he saved

as a jazz brother invited
a young man who was famished

for a Spanish meal and wine

offered a kiss of peace

and we passed the plate
and he stayed overnight
until dawn.