Читать книгу Saudade - Traci Brimhall - Страница 17

In Which the Chorus Explains What Was Stolen in 1966

MARIA DE LOURDES

One candidate swore he’d import artists from Paris to paint every voter’s portrait.

MARIA HELENA

But the wiretap revealed that of the six masked balls and two bullfights he promised, he only planned to pass out free twelve-packs of Guaraná Antarctica on election day.

MARIA APARECIDA

One candidate skipped town when someone caught him digging up a body and reburying it beneath the courthouse.

MARIA THEREZA

Another rumor said he was caught tattooing women after curfew, inking diabolical love letters onto their ankles.

MARIA MADALENA

He was part of a conspiracy of windmills, others claimed.

MARIA DE LOURDES

They said his chickens accused him of unspeakable things.

MARIA HELENA

When we arrived to cast our ballots, the soldiers at the polls handed us a picture of the general leading the charge against the Bolivian army and a picture of the president’s house stormed by sailors.

MARIA APARECIDA

We all voted for the general twice, the dim X of our voice. We went to the town square, and danced with short men with long mustaches who buried their bristled cheeks in our chests and swore to help you when the borders open if we’d only let them sign their names on our thighs.

MARIA THEREZA

We tried to tell them, we did. We were born a century before them and will last centuries after. This was not a fear to run from. We liked it, their acrid sweat, their promises of a future.

MARIA MADALENA

One planned our escape in a canoe under a dead fisherman.

MARIA DE LOURDES

One said he’d pack us in a sack when he shipped his manioc.

MARIA APARECIDA

One promised to write us a poem whose music would transport us over the Andes, even if our bodies remained here.

MARIA THEREZA

My brides, said the first, offering a hook.

MARIA MADALENA

Beloveds, said the second, holding a rose.

MARIA DE LOURDES

Muses, wrote the third, slipping notes in each of our pockets.

MARIA HELENA

We chose.