Find reflected in the eyeball of the camera

these regions overtaken by the ramshackle units

and their chimneys that cough clouds of smoke

into the sky, whose gutters emit a vitriolic pungency.

Find also the dust-deposited leaves of the cactus

which sharpens its claws waiting for the day

to pierce them in the ass of the industrial magnate.

Once these dominions were the definition of clear sunshine,

and the river breathing joy through its powerful lungs.

The eloquent ground felt privileged to host the shadows

of the allamanda and the periwinkle. Each evening

the tiny eatery would gather under its eaves teetotallers

as the grimy sheds and wobbling chimneys kept working

their greed.

 

Perhaps in these regions still reside

the monitor lizard, the frock-coated moth, the mongoose

and the buffalo waiting to lay siege to their grasslands.