tanya evanson
throwing skin - south america poems
BOLIVIA




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LAKE MOVEMENTS


"Separamos el  líquido esmeralda en colinas onduladas de espuma, carne y escamas. 
A lo lejos, vemos montañas sentados en cielo, el punto de incision, imperceptible."

we rush
and part the water into rolling hills 
of foam and flesh and scale

we rush
onto horizon, islands sitting in sky,
their point of incision vague

                                                                                   Island of the Sun, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
we rush
to the Island of Uros
floating on stinky totora reeds

we rush
guilt-ridden among the gringos 
taking pictures of all the children

we rush
to move little on these waters, 
fresh from thousand year old Inca burials

we rush
when the man with meat and potatoes
throws his batteries into the lake

                                                                                         Island of Uros, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
we rush
to Taquile to pick muño weed and inhale softly 
by the side of steep rock stairs

we rush
a terraced landscape before us 
like flakes of pink fish

we rush
the terra firma, no roads, cars, bicycles or dogs,
electricity a novelty from the '90s

                                                                                                              On Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
we rush
a rush of peace,
a novelty rush unto sacredness

we rush
this rush of high lake rush
that rushes into heavens
 

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia  10/97