(on hearing Derek Walcott at UWI)
Freighted with years
his loose-lip pants sus-
pendered,
the weary poet rises
from his front-row seat
proceeds slowly
to the stage
endures the swelling of applause
settles
like the contents
of a sack of grain
into the spotlit chair, where his weight-
ed words become miracles turning
into tendrils
crossing an expanse.