by Indran Amirthanayagam
I throw up my hands. I cannot
understand how half the country
votes for stepping off the cliff
of righteousness, the rule
of law, protection of the weak
and the other; how so many
can see only belly button,
door lock, money swirling
on line, quick payments
and the roaring feijoada,
caipirinhas flowing
and no more focus
on that favela up the hill.
Pied Piper and the Bible,
holiness and the puritan’s
American dream, wealth
equals God’s blessing,
but aren’t we in Brazil…
the evangelical globalized,
localized, homogenized,
two frontier myths become one,
the United States of Brazil,
at least half the residents
singing hymns, marching
to the sea to build beach-
front property, marching
to the forest to burn it down.
Indran Amirthanayagam received Sri Lanka's State Literary Award for White Space Sonnets. He won the Paterson Poetry Prize for The Elephants of Reckoning. His Lettre aux residents du monde is forthcoming from L'Harmattan. Amirthanayagam edits Beltway Poetry <www.beltwaypoetry.com>publishes at Beltway Editions >www.beltwayeditions.com>. He writes indranmx.substack.com
