My Machu Picchu

Published by The Delmarva Review, November, 2017

The little girl asks me to take the tree
off the strawberry. I cut the stem.

That night I dream of her and in that dream
I become a builder like those

of the Inca Empire. In the morning,
we play with toys yolk yellow

and try on jewels—in unison
we grow wings that illuminate at solstice.

She’s the sacred landscape theory, connecting me
to peaks akin to the alignment of gods.

We drink from the purest springs
turning my past defenses into skeletons,

vaporizing bones. In the city’s playground,
she balances on brass turtles, sways from monkey bars.

She calls my name, her raised hands squeeze the air.
I am a fountain found on the flanks of a mountain.

Building temples, we move stones into their place,
fitting them together with such precision—

paying homage to our ancient ways,
to a royal city perched atop a crest in the sky.