A City~ By Airica Parker

Guate! Guaaaaaaa   te!  He yells over my shoulder
to people swarming around the parking lot that

serves  as a bus station.  He carries my backpack

past the  awkward moment  when we both hold 

a strap, negotiating fare. His old school bus from

The States is modified.  Narrow aisle, wide seats

crammed full, full until I am not sure which arm
is mine. When we untangle into Guate’s  streets,
I wait for a green light with a goat herder and
his nine  goats.  I count  them  twice.  The owner
of the hotel cooks banana bread and keeps an

assortment of singing birds caged in the lobby.
It smells and sounds  like a jungle.  My window

has  thick  shutters and no screen.  I sleep late

without  realizing it,  shower with sandals, filter

water, check my compass. Out on the pavement,  
a Mayan woman is dressed as colorfully as the

cut-open  mangos and  papayas she sells.  Fused

by hues, she grows out of her booth, fusses over

it like protective shade.  She’s lovely.  I want
to tell her,  but I don’t know how to  form words
in her language, and I’m unsure of my language.
The common ground is a mango.  I buy one

with centavos, wishing I could wash her feet

instead. Stepping in fluid, I discern the dividers
on metal poles as   urinals. A  man  glares  at me.

Oops, I’m gawking.  Along the sidewalk’s edge,

piss eddies.  Unfiltered fumes from buses and

cars are dizzying. I tie a sweater around my nose

and mouth.  But I want to smile back, so I put it

away. Two days later, my left eye is infected,

and my snot is black. I need  to  buy  medicine.   

I ask the owner of the hotel if she has centavos

 with the tree.
                                From a glass jar, she pours out
a quetzal’s worth.

NOTE: "A City" calls for social change on global and environmental scales. Quetzals are rare tropical birds with stunning feathers. The quetzal is also the currency of Guatemala.  "Centavos" is a Spanish word for coins or cents. 


Author Bio:
Airica Parker’s words appear most recently in The Fiddlehead, Lalitamba, Mountain Gazette, Antipodes, and Skidrow Penthouse. The Poetry Foundation selected her as a 2011 finalist for a Ruth Lilly Fellowship. "The City" comes from Body Bridge, poems that seek common ground between external and internal worlds.Author, performer, instructor, and healing artist, Airica makes her home in Colorado. Learn more at airicaparker.com.