The Great Plague

Far and wide we go

taking who we are 

& what we know 

around the globe

A set of coordinates with snow

the whitest the purest in the world 

with peaks so high they make you feel small

Others are drawn to the equator

chasing crystalline waters that only reflect your soul

sands so thin they whisper as you scrape them from your feet

All this to find to become someone we dare not imagine

within the confines of our maps

In spite of what the traveling herds might indicate

few are the ones to leave behind 

the manners when you cross a stranger

or the right time for dinner

No problem would this be if we were to understand 

traveler is also a host

carrying the responsibility of respecting the locals (human & non-human)

making them feel welcome

A great plague is upon us:

a new breed of capitalist locust 

with tall hats & dangling their chains

searching to take all that in their museums 

didn’t fit most of it compressed into hundreds 

of megabytes to prove they are the person 

they always dreamt 

Consumption is identity

the colonial legacy

tilts the scale

from core

to periphery

fair-skinned

& prietos

All goes unaccounted for 

say your grace for things have never been better

now you get a dollar for your servitude instead of the stick

Hidden under words and concrete the empire hides from scrutiny 

while the locusts lay at the beach

taking from others what was taken from them

oppression is better 

when you make it go round

Mallorca is full of Germans easy to see why

they look out of place

6 p.m. dinners

shy smiles

& bright red shoulders

Language is never a barrier but a chance to understand what it is like to be weak vulnerable & open

Nuances in our body & energy open up meanings our words can never fully poses

I bid my forgiveness 

to the goddess of the sea

too much I enjoy 

the reveries of our world

underwater exploration

fresh fish at my table

The money I paid 

is no price 

for the rest I took

from this lands

Sacrifice of blood 

is not well seen these days

though we all got some

on our hands

God forbid

you slay a chicken 

under the full moon

but KFC is open

from noon to noon