Mary Mackey USA
The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams
Up on the Orinoco, Rio Negro, Solimões,
Tocantins, Xingu, Javary
they’re drinking the bebida preta/black
drink
snake vine ayahuasca/yage/ blood of the
great anaconda
with the smoke of burning rainforests in
their nostrils
and o gosto de cinzas/taste of ashes
on their tongues
Eles estão comendo they’re eating
purple snails powdered viper venom
lagartas esmagadas flowers that
dye their lips
the color of blood singing of cities of
blue glass
and the jaguars that prowl our dreams
O que mais/what else are
they seeing?
O que mais/what else do they
know?
they’re not saying
they’re not telling
they’re calling on the ghost tribes instead
ghosts of the Tupinambá,
Tupiniquim, Aimoré
lost upriver forever
lost in the burning world
© Copyright, 2011,
Mary Mackey. |