A lover slips off his cotton tee
and flings it on a llama in the páramo. Caballos spin past like devotees.
Lariats slap the air in tango code.
The Latin state seduces him like sleaze.
The lover speaks his words fortissimo,
chills out like nudists put on ice to freeze.
Supine or prone he relishes the pose.
He’s heard that Buenos Aires is the spot
to sip yerba maté infused with pot.
From Jujuy to the Pole the gauchos dine
on empanadas stowed in leather totes.
This gringa interprets everything baroque.
My lover wishes he were Argentine.
For many years a high school French teacher in Pasadena, California, Judith Terzi (website) has also taught English at California State University, Los Angeles, and in Algiers, Algeria. Her poetry has received prizes and recognition from numerous journals in addition to nominations for Best of the Net and Web. Recent books include The Road to Oxnard and Sharing Tabouli.
Judith Terzi’s poetry has been widely published in print and on line. A new chapbook, The Road to Oxnard, will appear from Pudding House Press in 2010 as a finalist of note in the 2009 competition. She was a runner-up in the 2009 Alehouse Press Happy Hour Awards. In her other life, she was a high school French teacher and college writing instructor. She lives in Pasadena, California and is terrified of earthquakes.
Here in Peru, the Andes change direction job markets transmute at home
rain-shadowed landscapes form ubiquitous suspension
in dry forests where the cordillera fragments as pleasures cloud
deciduous acacia rise in river valleys nest eggs drain
sedges and scrophs spread at our feet foreclosures germinate
the río Marañón rushes through narrow gorges stress tests pressure banks
angel’s trumpet boast toxic flowers while bonuses startle
the spatuletail and the tapir live endangered homelessness surges
here in this tectonic barrier depression of credit
outside the level ranges of mountain and mood
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