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(afterThe Motorcycle Diaries)
The Amazon River separates
the healthy from the lepers.
Ernesto’s white shirt glows
in the jungle’s humid darkness.
At 24, he throws the shirt into the night,
a wild flag of surrender,
and dives into
the Amazon’s wet void. Arms fling
wide, graceful wings through
water, between asthmatic gasps
for air. Behind him, the nuns
and doctors scream, Come back,
it’s too dangerous. You’ll die!
What good are those
who aren’t willing to touch skin
or spirit. Ahead, the lepers cheer,
Go, Ernesto! You can make it!
Jari Thymian’s poetry has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Pudding, Ekphrasis, Wild Plum, and various anthologies. Poems are forthcoming in The Progenitor, Poetry Motel, Open Windows 2005, and an anthology from Pudding House. She works as a life coach and teacher in Aurora, CO.
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