04-02-2026, 03:34 PM
The Amazon
Seasoned with potsherds, charcoal, dung, and bone,
this earth was clearly mixed by mortal hands:
if not those of a man, then of a giant.
Otrera was her name. To call this place
a jungle or even a forest is to debase
her grasp of culture, her careful interplanting
of kapoks and mahoganies between
little fields of manioc, little bursts
of pepper and pineapple, little sprays
of achiote and cacao, little spires
of pupunha and papaia, little hills
of the towering brazil-nut: call it a garden.
Call it a sprawling country-wide city established
along a sea-broad river. Call it the crown
of a queen who mothers as well as she marshals ranks
of animal and vegetable alike.
Seasoned with potsherds, charcoal, dung, and bone,
this earth was clearly mixed by mortal hands:
if not those of a man, then of a giant.
Otrera was her name. To call this place
a jungle or even a forest is to debase
her grasp of culture, her careful interplanting
of kapoks and mahoganies between
little fields of manioc, little bursts
of pepper and pineapple, little sprays
of achiote and cacao, little spires
of pupunha and papaia, little hills
of the towering brazil-nut: call it a garden.
Call it a sprawling country-wide city established
along a sea-broad river. Call it the crown
of a queen who mothers as well as she marshals ranks
of animal and vegetable alike.