Joanne Kyger
from God Never Dies: Poems from Oaxaca
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Here in Oaxaca it's the Night of the Radishes
  
 

 

     Here in Oaxaca it's the Night of the Radishes
          Now I wave from the green
               balcony above the gardenia
                     in my shoes without socks the sun
     is frankly generous
        today when everyone needs
room at the inn            Time to put
     the buddha back in place
  He doesn't mind being 'catholic'
    in Mexico
        Part of the long preliminaries of the days
             preparation
                   for carving through the red skin


                                                                 DECEMBER 23 TUESDAY