South America
Up in the sky’s expanse, true being, unborn, forever pure
Beautiful is the world below me — how many colors do I see?
San Juan, Puerto Rico
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San Juan, Puerto Rico
The blue depths of the Gulf Stream
Meet aquamarine waters
A curving line in beautiful light,
The great reef vivid green
Stretches before our eyes
Varicolored tendrils reach
Fingerlike into solid ground
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Caripito, Venezuela
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Caripito, Venezuela
Construction work shortens
The take-off distance,
Making the fuel load a bit difficult
I have never seen a jungle
Geography requiring the best equipment
And offering the slimmest chances
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Paramaribo, Suriname
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Paramaribo, Suriname
Descendents of escaped slaves
Glimpsed in the market place
Barter soft-shell turtle eggs
String beans eighteen inches long
Horned cucumbers and sapodillas
Fortaleza, Brazil
Fortaleza, Brazil
After ten hours I’m glad to see Fortazela
A potent metropolis
One of two cities in Brazil
Laid out with straight streets,
Just as it is according to the maps
Between the mountains and the sea
On a brown sandy plain
In the arc of a crescent shaped indentation
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Natal, Brazil
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Natal, Brazil
The soil in this part of Brazil is red.
As many of the houses are built of adobe
A vivid touch of color
Green trees face a gray-green sea.
Beyond, the surf beats a stranded wreck