Talking to Ludwig

Poetry microdose: Day Twenty-Eight

SteviLeeAlver
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Poems

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Photo by Jeanne Paredes on Unsplash

i’m reading a preamble-less

poem, the one that begins
it is two or three o’clock and i have

to confess the line above
is somewhat stolen. bourbon is
bolton’s drink and o’hara is his subject.

meanwhile, i’ve cultivated a friendship

with a brazilian grasshopper
who responds to ludwig. together

we ponder life’s differences

and similarities in difference. i offer
my new friend capfuls of water

and savanna-green fern fronds
for shade, it can be every hue
of hot and lonely in brazil.

spending all day

in front of a laptop
doesn’t mean you’re writing poetry. if i die

what will they make of my search

history? will anybody bother looking?
i wander the yellow-swept streets

of pirenópolis, sidestep brawling
vira-latas, burning tyres, broken footpaths
and blistering bags of garbage piled by the side

of the road. i’m scared to admit how difficult

abstaining for seven days has been,
i don’t want ludwig to think i have

a problem. at the tapiocaria i order

margarita, a single vegetarian
option, queijo, tomate e manjericão,

cheese, tomato and basil.
it’s delicious. over the road, the church
obscures the sanguine sky and a buzzing drone

drowns out swarming flies. i like this

place with its concrete walls, mismatched
chairs and hanging lights. the people seem

warm. i wonder what o’hara would have

written with this lunch hour?
or, are the colours here too

drenched for new york flâneurs?
ludwig and i agree, bolton would

happily trade bourbon for chá mate.

Stevi-Lee Alver is an Australian writer and tattoo artist. She lives in the middle of Brazil with her wife. She loves bush walks and waterfalls but misses the ocean.

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SteviLeeAlver
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Poems

Writer & tattoo artist. Representing queer Australians in Brazil.