earth note 243

when i lived near the equator
there was always that cleansing
that poured out of your body
     got passed along
     between bodies
there was no such thing as
     don't sweat it
the magic oils that
consumer glutting advertises
were all in the air
in the steam of the rainforests
in the poverty streets
of loose fitting saris and flip-flops
in the orange of the monks
the heat could be counted on
     to blanket you
          in nightfall
          in silence

an invitation to pass through
and immerse
was never needed
simply absorb what's around you
in the rugged hills
detached from the cities
     where water buffalo work
     the valleys of ten-thousand-year soil
     on a border with dusk
     rubber trees     coconut     rambutan
          floods and fires
          to labor
          to survive

on the other side of the world
the bankers plan
a decimation of the teak
a dam binding a wild river
a market manipulation
that buys collateral

     but not
          time

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)