Oh, the things people carry! --My first poem about Guate

Here in Guate you have lots of luck

if you have access

to a car or pick-up

So when people don´t

(which is most of the time)

Oh, the things they can carry

the hills they can climb!

Baskets of things both live and dead

Bundles of wood carried just with your head

Babies on backs and snacks pushed in carts

Good balance is one of the finest of arts

I´ve seen

Cinder blocks

Live chickens boxed

Tortilla masa

Lumber for casa

Baskets of every shape and size

Peanuts and bread and all sorts of pies

I´ve seen furniture

And front and back doors

I saw one man carry a whole chest of drawers!

I´ve seen
Bikes atop buses with six to a seat

Parts and pieces of uncooked meat

Deliveries for those who live far away

Choco-bananos and flowers in bouquet

Heaps of comida to sell at the mercado

Half-a-tree´s worth of ripe avocado

Stacks of leaves for making tamal

Machetes in case you get into a brawl

I´ve seen

Farmers with hoes

Kids with bare toes

Necks strong as steel

Food for ten meals

Women with posture staighter than straight

Men who can carry two-times their weight

I´ve seen so many things!

It´s hard to descibe

I couldn´t carry them if you gave me a bribe!

No matter the weather

or time of day

No matter the distance

Or how poor the pay

I´ve seen so many things about which to rhyme

But it´s the things people carry

The hills they can climb!

(Inspired, of course, by Dr. Seuss, and the hard-working people of Alta Verapaz)