Peru Poems

Away

A hemisphere away
tears fall from cheek to shoe
you make it seem like being blue is something to write home about
I drink a beer that shares the name of this city-town
a long way down
a lonely road paved with no gold
porque people came and took it away
long ago




Ride To Colca

from sleeping sound and still to riding away
from Arequipa
still sleeping, or trying to, being in the back of a minivan
while a man downshifts
and powers up
(a growl that nags my ears)
and up and
through the clouds
How the fuck can he see through foggy-dark abyss?
through closed eyes, i sit and wonder
(the roads "extremely dangerous")
Doze
altiplano
hu, jeez, cold as llama tits now
and out the window it looks like the naked face of the moon
i doze again wearing fleecy gloves
but jerk awake as we round a bend
afraid but then
the sun breaks through the mist
and from a stupendous height
we stare down
down down
and it's green all around




Untitled

Want to feel so small
want to
Want to feel so small
feel so small

Man and mountain
make me miss
make me kiss and tell
My primordial journey

Paragraph and page
words eroding
petrified
the tale of time and Force

Forced to forget and unable to remember
an old melody
we hummed along with

So, high our spirits--
hey, soaring condors
and umade beds
left like a trail of tears in a hundred little hotels
a hundred dreams, most forgotten
a hundred letters
written home
a hundred crosses on the side of the road

We stopped at scrabble towns
dust and ash
hard burnt friendly faces abounded
and a kid with a slingshot, he pantomimed
shoots me
i felt small, i pretend to fall

Oh boy




Three, Two, One . . .

In being all together like this
can it be possible that in one instant we would stop?

'it's not a lie if you believe it's true'

I stop and stare at soap
and brightly colored woven wares
and promptly knock my head against a low hanging awning
yawning and rubbing my eyes

I'm starting to realize that it probably doesn't matter and that i shouldn't lie.
To myself, oh sure, but something else . . .
something a little more-
shouldn't lie
believe it's true

I believe the both of you, and more

My eyes burned
You, sir, are in a state of flux
Flux to you all
it's just my luck
locked up like
braces, stubborn, then, unstuck
Fick as Fieves and feverish
blinded
i stared at the eclipse
thought of escape
to live like this, such a mistake
to think, we burned so bright
so upright and true
you and me and manny others counted in our ranks
brothers, sisters
I'm all thumbs now
maestro with paulsey
but i remember, i crawled
my left hand stratched out before me

-3/12/06




William, et. al.

Nighttime on a plane is a time to reflect on things, that is, if you are still awake
Every little shimmy that shakes the passengers makes my pen pause
Past is present at this moment
Thinking back
Wondering what i'll think of the voyage if i make it home tomorrow
Tomorrow does not consider the people i met along the way and what they might be doing with themselves, a world away
Not so far from my thoughts
A man in his mid-forties runs a comb through his long hair and decides that he need not trim his beard
And William, god willing, sleeps a blessed sleep, growing boy with aging soul
The plane rocks and sways and i stop again, for the time being
I'm never sure of what lies written on the page
I only hope the page endures, tucked into the pages of a book
I hope someday to finish