Do Me a Favor and Ride a Horse with Me
Through pictures and books have I journeyed there
turning the pages that describe life on the pampas
I saunter across those grasslands on my horse
squinting like a gaucho under my sweat-stained hat
strolling along with the rays of the morning sun.
In my living room I have unfolded as many
maps of southern America as I could find.
I hover over them as if I were in another time
kneading the landscape like a cat obsessed
until the clap of a thunderstorm makes me jump.
I curl up and fall asleep.
Unfolding my maps past Tierra del Fuego
Antartica seems to beckon me to go, so
I plan a route beginning from Machu Picchu
sliding down the Andes and then across the pampas
I travel past the Patagonian tip to find myself
standing with penguins -- I'm not dressed in a tux
mind you, but bundled up dry as a bone in Gore-Tex
that seems almost as good as the impermeable feathers
that penguins wear all day and look so good wearing.
I curl up and fall asleep.
We never go anywhere anymore my husband said to me
as I uncurled myself from my sleep and looked up at him --
love of my life who recently began to express his concern
about me falling asleep in a room covered in maps.
Do me a favor, I asked him, and ride a horse with me.
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