Dia de Independencia - the flip side.

Dia de Independencia en Nueva Suyapa.

The neighborhood had the scent

of holiday; so much

that I forgot other people

in other places were not experiencing

the same.

“We will not go down to the parade,”

they say,

“the buses don’t run;

there are ALBA protests and rowdy people,

and our bands are not playing anyway.”

So instead we hear

every TV from

every diametric stones throw

singing songs

of feigned freedom

as we reinvent the drainage system

that sends access food and trash

into the gulley down below;

as we finally finish that roof,

nine months overdue;

as we dig our buckets

deep into the pila

using the last of it to

wash brilliantly

the clothes of one

who is not our own.

When all is said and done

we sit down and drink a glass

of Pepsi or Coke and toast

to the gods who were so benevolent

to give us jobs

at Burger King, McDonalds and Pizza Hut;

and factories of Gap and Walmart

at banana plantations and coffee farms

on the land of our ancestors

who gave us some walls after the hurricane

and left.

Disclaimer -- this poem is quite; well, negative towards the US, I tend to be so... especially when their presence is so visual here. Yes, this is a poem about re-colonization and asks the question; is Honduras really independent?I am playing with that, yes. I mean what I wrote, but, Independence Day is quite a cool thing here, if you read a blog entry of fellow co-workers, particularly the Troyers: troyteguc.blogspot.com: who are in Copan right now, you might learn that; marching bands from high schools across Honduras practice for months to prepare for this day, much of the community gets involved; it is quite exciting and beautiful; maybe I am just bitter because I wanted to go down and see the parade but couldn't, and if I did, I would have written a different kind of poem I'm sure. I'm glad I stayed though, and I'm glad I wrote this one. I might have been getting to know Honduras better if i went, but not the Honduras that I am currently living and working in. I'd like to know your thoughts on this,

Peace,

Rachel