Vanitha Sankaran's Pick:
"With a great economy of words, the author brings alive a glimpse of a new world that stays with you, like lingering images after a flash of lightning."
Hurricane lightning
thunders Altiplano
iced from Cordillera Real
to Nevado Sajama volcano.
Mittened hands, muffin socks
munching coca leaves
I ramble
south in Marco Polo bus.
Bleak days in Bolivia:
step out the door and lose
your home —
sleet, hail, hell of white nights.
Newspaper says 20,000 llamas
in ghastly snow burial —
where has sun
god Apu Inti gone?
Bottles break, brooms
fall, pavement cracks and
Nature prostrates man —
priest sacrifices alpaca fetus
little girl survives
88 hour ordeal,
a miracle and a blessing
but for her frostbitten fingers.
Talisman faith, amulet prayer —
on 7th day Apu Inti returns.
My naked palms splay open
in praise of fire.
Patrick Pfister is the author of two books: Pilgrimage: Tales from the Open Road and Over Sand & Sea. His stories have appeared in various literary magazines and Travelers' Tales anthologies, including Best Travel Writing 2007. His poetry currently appears or is forthcoming in Pearl, Juked, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Blue Fifth Review and elsewhere. Visit his website at www.patrickpfister.com.