The Chickasaw Plum

 

Home     Short Stories     Poetry     Articles     Humor     Links

 

 

 

The titular poem from AlmaLuz Villanueva’s

new volume of poetry, Soft Chaos. 

 

 

            There are two ways to go to the gas chamber,

                        free or not free.

 

            —Jean-Paul Sartre

 

soft chaos

 

I tie my fractured toe to the toe

next to it—after 8 planes, crazy Bali

traffic,  2 lanes become 3, 4, even 5, 6,

as motorcycles pass on both sides

 

(I break my own toe right in my own front room)…

 

when I saw this mess, babies and children,

with no helmets, on motorcycles with their

parents,  I was horrified —7 days later

I climbed on the back of a motorcycle

 

driven by a woman who’d just given me a

heavenly massage for $4 ($10 tip), her 4-year old

daughter in front of me, me in a sarong, all of us

no helmets, young Balinese men yelling.

 

“Mama mia!” as we zipped by, my sarong

flapping in the sensuous breeze, at the

corner we’re almost hit by a bus, no one

gets angry, upset (no problem),  I’m

 

left wondering if my mangled body

would be cremated here with a grand

ceremony, or shipped back through

customs like stray baggage—then, I  think

 

of all the people at the World Trade Center

falling    falling    falling    flying,    their final

choice, moments of freedom, rather than

wait like a prisoner for the fire to

 

eat them alive – I wept every

time they played it on CNN, now

I understand, I truly understand

Their brief flight  (I think I always

 

  did), but to have seen them

fall    fall    fall    fly    changed some

thing in me, some things that felt safe, certain

orderly. Now I must embrace the

soft chaos,

brief moments

of freedom,

trust.

 

 

                        Bali, October 2001

 

 

 

The Chickasaw Plum  -  Volume VI - Number 4 - April 2009

 

 

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the above articles are distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The Chickasaw Plum has no affiliation whatsoever with the originators of these articles nor is it endorsed or sponsored by the originator.

 

"Go to Original" links are provided where possible as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted on the Plum may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the "Go to Original" links.

 

 

Home     Short Stories     Poetry     Articles     Humor     Links