Getting Settled

How good it is to be in Mexico,
comfortable in my simple room,
with kitchenette just outside the door,
two twin beds,
and a fresh towel once a week.

The teachers at the school are patient and kind
and don’t seem to approach teaching like a job or duty.
They even seem to enjoy spending evenings with students
in outdoor cafes where we struggle to hear and understand them
over the blaring salsa music, to which couples dance between the crowded tables.

Bit by bit, poco a poco, I learn the language.
Bit by bit, I learn that important things sometimes get buried by needs and wants
that have nothing to do with being alive.