colours explode in fevers of sweetness

a llama springs tied to a tree

cactus pillars packed with water

wind song through cacti thorns
one red rooster an ox-ploughed field

the silence of the puna every fold

of earth speaking a different colour

catacombs of human bone boxes behind
brass lion doorknockers twelve feet high

for those who once came calling on horseback

walls made of sand bird bones seashell

riverstones lime and water outlasting 
centuries of earthquake the sound of a river

coming up from underground in layers

a child in the shadow of a darkened doorway

rocking the passage of water and time 
cracks in the concrete swimming pool

filled with paper barking dogs on chains

houses behind wrought iron gates on hilltops

cacti and locks someone welding at dawn
red disk on the horizon head torn open

pin pricks and holes in the hessian

she drinks the chicha she is cold exhausted

the altiplano air implodes her lungs 
she sits in her grave in a foetal position

wrapped in cloth facing east

her breathing slows the impossible scent

of jasmine stitching the hills to the air…