Belém do Pará, Amazônia, Brazil

All night smoke drifts
through the windows

bits of leaves and trees

lives of others
arrive on the air

lizards and tatus
(armadillos)
capivaras

the slow sloths
hand over hand
never flee
fast enough

smoke lines the throat
a film moves
across my eyes

around no one
seems to heed

                         *

Far in the interior,