Lalo’s Walls
the proud Peruvian
professor of anthropology
our tour guide Lalo
perseverates on the quality
of Incas architecture
pointing at the perfection
of walls
in Machu Picchu
walls at Ollantaytambo
walls at Racchi
everywhere the great stones
fit at the seams
and joints
like a leavening of bread loaf
rising together
some carved from granite
some carved
from volcanic rock
basalt black
and brought from
close-at-hand quarries
some from far valleys
what wonders
he reveals of the ancient world
as he places
a reverent palm
on the big-bellied curve
of a single seam
tracing the line of the bond
with the tip of his nail
like the natural path of a bead of rain
what a marvel
he says
see how they interlock
where they fit
this amazing masonry
crafted by the lost art of ancestors
knowing the solstice of the seasons
training its light
through the notch of a mountain
for the god of the sun
and the god of the moon
caressing these lintels like a lover’s warm hand
he is imploring us
to pay a studied attention
to the distant past
he wants us to see where
the interstices held
even as the earth trembled
and scree boiled down from the broken slopes
of the high mountains
these walls stayed
stronger even than the monuments of memory
preserved by breath in story
while we stand and move stand and move
performing the work of walking shadows
timing the ephemeral darkness of a single day
Winner of the international Hourglass Poetry Award for best poem