Alone in Mexico

Beginning with one line from Kim Addonizio

I have no one to tell
how the bougainvillea
try to take over the neighborhood,
and the trees in Parque Juarez
sway gently as I walk
toward the steps
to the overlook;

no one to listen with me
as I stop to savor
the peal and clang of bells
and the late afternoon light
reflecting from half a dozen domes
before I continue my climb;

no one to admire the necklace
I buy from the street vendor
when I return to El Jardin,
this string of almost gold wooden beads
with wooden stars dangling at the end;

no one with whom to walk
hand-in-hand around the plaza,
with whom to bargain for a song
from strolling musicians,
no one to eat with me in this sidewalk café
as the sinking sun changes

the sandstone gothic façade
of La Parroquia to pink, and the moon
and stars begin glimmer
above the mountains and city
I’ve learned to love;

No one with whom to return
to my room for the long night.
Only solitude in which to savor
the riches of this day, to remember
how many people blessed me
as I walked, or sat on a park bench,
or ordered a cup of tortilla soup
and strong, hot coffee.

 

 

Wilda Morris, Workshop Chair of Poets and Patrons of Chicago and a past President of the Illinois State Poetry Society, has been published in numerous anthologies, webzines, and print publications, including The Ocotillo Review, Pangolin Review, and Journal of Modern Poetry. She seeks solitude alone and in the presence of friends to write. Wilda has won awards for formal and free verse and haiku. Her second poetry book, Pequod Poems: Gamming with Moby-Dick, was published in 2019. Her poetry blog at wildamorris.blogspot.com features a monthly poetry contest for other poets and links to many of her poems on the web.