HISTORY
9.3.20
Olle, white man;
Wave a wand and wash away the flavor of mortality in the Rio Magdalena, make it so only the live ones float.
Turn off all the lamps in my country. Keep the dead from haunting my people at night.
For the children, blow up bombs exploding bread, toys, and prosthetics.
From the encyclopedia of memory, cross out all the names of friends and family gone missing. Maybe then they’ll stop spitting straw paper at the back of my neck. Colombians are untimely like that.
Also from the encyclopedia of memory, cross out words more severe than missing.
Remake our jungle perfume – rework the formula entirely; more anaconda, more moss, more jaguar. Replace the stench of mass graves with river dolphin. Substitute gunpowder for dart-frog. War for Orchid.