which makes me feel
that it is more than fat
I believe she has a tumor
I’m like a dog
I can smell cancer
deep in my sinuses
proximate to my brain
She dusts
fragments of ancient columns
in a niche in the wall
They reiterate her shape
She is the only one in her family
who works for the city
The director loves her--
she keeps the museum so clean
The director will be sad if she dies of cancer
He has known her for forty years
as long as Moses wandered in the desert
Her sisters attend stalls
in the mercado
The filth there offends her
the stench
the flies
When she was young
she was not offended
Now she won’t even visit
her sisters there
They think she is haughty
because she works inside an air-conditioned
three-story building
for the city
but they forgive her
One of her sisters worries about
the custodian’s health
This sister
doesn’t know why
but she worries
She is like me
She is also a dog
She senses things she doesn’t know
