if my feet could pound air into my lungs
the way they pound steps into the ground
i wouldn’t suspect i have asthma.
kissed by a llama
hiking towards Machu Picchu
must be good luck
Peru
May 18
there’s a market
outside of the market
across from the supermarket
and i expect those miniature llamas
are sold everywhere
May 17
if my heart beats like castanets
does that make my body
culturally appropriative?
May 16
even when i am bitter
and sad
and stressed
and upset
waving back to babies who wave at trains
will always bring a smile to my heart
May 15 (part 2)
i love
the dichotomy
of traditional life
with
modern amenities.
like the Uru
living on floating islands made of reeds
hand-crafted, knowledge descending generations,
with solar energy
charging their iPhones
the chord and device were hidden behind her front door
(a door also made of reed)
as though seeing it may make tourists think
it out of place
but i find it
delightfully comforting
May 15
no photos, respect the dead
but they are on display
give a donation, place a sol coin above the glass enclosure
they’ve called home since being dug up
but i could be in this room for hours
the archaeologist inside tearing out of me from my eyes
feasting on the leathery look of preserved skin
noticing where hair is still visible, stuck to the skull
counting the exposed tendons from toe knuckle to nail
and I want to know more
and feel more
and taste…
i am not a professional archaeologist
but for a moment in that room i could almost feel
what might have been
May 14
get pulled into audience participation dancing
Perform
feel out of place on a luxury train
Perform
meet new people who think your life is interesting
Perform
that is your profession, is it not?
May 13
condors have a huge wingspan
which they will show off for you as you approach
and they fly over you like dragons
but they don’t want to burn any villages.
they just want to find dead meat and be left alone.
May 12
we hike with dogs
and learn about how the Incas built walls
around other cultures’ sacred places
so they would have to go through Inca territory
to worship their gods
and live their lives.
but when the Spanish arrived
they destroyed the Incan sacred spaces
and forced them to build Christian churches
so they would only be able to worship
the One Christian God.
I think I like one version of imperialism better
we talk with our guide about
dogs
Inca
books
college
Peru
computers
politics
Canada
tourists
and he tells us our plan to write on a train is cliché
we laugh about it and agree
May 11
brick apartments
three stories high
open top floor
to let the laundry dry
were the buildings finished that way?
maybe this tingling in my lips
will stop the tingling in my toes
(on coca leaves)
when a massive nosebleed occurs in a rented room
at 1 in the morning
and you manage to catch it all in your hands
that is a miracle
in a world with no(t just one) god.
kipventures 