Curse in the Mouth of the Lake by Willy Palomo

when the first cloud of arsenic
bats her incandescent wing
over the valley sprinkling antimony
over the rooftops sowing copper
into shrubland and parking lot alike

may ben hart take the first breath
may his throat sour and ache
until even rosebuds nauseate
his stomach may his laughter
be deadly may his respirators
fail him may metal be all
he swallows before gasps
devour his last light-headed
words to his children

may the first feather of zirconium
burst over the alfalfa
may the first feather of zirconium
glow like the blind eye
of a god before blinking away
capitol & capitalist
in an effulgent flare of smoke

may the tar sands
boil & multiply
may the tar sands
bubble & burst
trawling their black tongues
across the pale legs
of kera birkeland
may she be the first
white woman to go
dragged by the dark hand
of the Lake
may she kick & squawk
like a baby pelican
may she howl & shriek
like a starved coyote

may the birds disappear
from the sky only for the gulls
to return with the resurrected
hordes of locusts they once spat
into the lake may the latter-day
saints forget the miracles
of flight and song
may their wandering
be their flight
may their cries
be their song

from the depths of Teguayo
may there emerge the most vicious
of the Aztec lords the thousand
jaws of Cipactli the endless
hunger of Huitzilopochtli

i know so much worse awaits
those who surrender to hatred

i know so much worse awaits
the servants of greed

my memory moves through
this land like the ghost
of an innocent lynched
trailing my rope behind me
wagging like a dog

it is love that blows
the brains out of a rabid
beast it is love this beastly
desire to sink my teeth
into the arms of the state

but there are gods behind me
with bigger grins than mine
there are gods behind me
who do not discriminate
between the mortals

we who swallowed the downwind
& hacked off our breasts
we who the river remembers
& you wish to forget
we who will revitalize this land
when you flee in fear
or fertilize its deserts
with your bone