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.
read about the author | © 2006 Contrary Magazine