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Mary Mackey Page 3
Walking Upside Down on
the
Other Side of the World
Quando falamos nesta
cidade perdida
when we speak in this
lost city
our words bubble out of
our mouths
like the orações/prayers
of drowned children
through air so hot and
green it holds us
in suspension like
bottled glass
here perto deste
grande rio/near this
great river
on the edge of this
great forest of stumps
anaconda clouds glide
over us like sinuous
birds
and the throats of
lovers fill with mud and
black water
here you can get anyone
killed for $50
by the jagunços
in cowboy boots and
aviator glasses
who sit in the bars
nursing cold beers
here iron ore is sucked
out of
the earth like blood
and a section
of bamboo filled with
gold dust will buy a you
a quick death
in this Anopheles
democracy of sudden
disasters
mosquitoes spread
malaria equally to
everyone
garimpeiros, caboclos,
assassins,
colonels who ride in air
conditioned cars
babies who sleep in
hammocks
here the dead speak the
words
the living are afraid to
utter
and each kiss given
in fear
is as swift as the
tongue of a bat
probing a flower
© Copyright, 2011,
Mary Mackey. |