MEZCAL
Anthony Seidman
Galeguetza carnival, Oaxaca;
Midnight in the zócalo.
After the red
spider of thirst
scratched
down my throat
& wove
her web of acid,
I drank a bottle.
The salt film before
my eyes
peeled:
shadows turned to smoke,
a bloodstream of color
sprayed
in the boom
of fireworks,
the faithful
raised
bottles while
fingers of xylophone
dug
into my eyes,
plucked daylight
from memory,
thus, unblinded,
I stumbled by
the Zapotec women who
genuflected
before a tree,
poured libations for
man-root,
woman-fish,
and the prodigal dead.
Anthony Seidman's most recent collection of poetry is entitled A Sleepless Man Sits Up In Bed (Eyewear Publishing, London). Recent translations, poems, and articles have been published in Poetry International, New American Writing, The Bitter Oleander, and LARB.