things missed in exile

Things that are missed in exile:
The shape of the sky and that "certain slant of light"
Specific fruits and ways of eating them
like watermelon with salty cheese, and
cactus pears
peeled and cut on the roadside, or
fresh from the cactus with
invisible glass needles
(only way to rid them from your hands:
rub them together with dry sand)
Ways of drinking coffee: black and thick as mud
Sheets of eggs sold by
old men on the sidewalk
Artikim on the beach and
sunflower seeds from the kiosk
Brown dust that coats everything
The ease of washing floors:
hot soapy water
thrown from a bucket and
squeegied into the
corner drain
News on the bus every hour on the hour

In New York, you don't hear
the news on the bus.
On second thought,
that's something I don't
really miss at all.