Attempted Blessing   Amy Groshek

 

 

Presidente Montales, ˇFelicidades!,

may your hide be safe from my government.

May the coca green and flourish.

May the World Bank bless you and keep you.

May no Navy SEALs uncurl

from shocks of corn like a second crop.

May the tripwire encircling

the Christian safe deposit box

remember, at your touch,

the teachings of Christ.

May the paper of no embargo ascend,

rustling, reeking of whiteout,

the lichened stairs of Inca ruins.

May you put me to shame, Presidente Montales,

may I walk the streets of this cold city, limping

for lack of the limb called kindness,

while morning after morning the people of Bolivia

find that the sun rising on the broken slopes

of their country illuminates a great clay bowl of promise

which bears their names.