MOTHER'S DAY, MEXICO CITY (poem)

Encaustic collage with calligraphy © Thea Evensen 2024.

The air is clear and cool

inside the church of San Felipe Neri

as a small cluster of reverent women

kneel at the altar rail chanting to the Virgin

in hushed voices, their supplications

echoing through the vaulted nave,

the smell of disinfectant and old wood

perfuming the darkness, while outside

in the hazy sunlight twenty-two million souls

struggle to survive in the noxious air,

the congestion of cars and buses

belching fumes into the atmosphere,

and life on Calle Madero continues pulsing

to a boom box beat where juggling clowns

work the sidewalk for centavos and a man

waits at the light wearing a surgical mask,

while inside the church, plaster saints

in gold altar niches look down beatifically

on the chanting women who glorify the Mother

of all mothers, and the tranquil interior

and sweet soprano voices make me forget

for a moment that turbulence reigns

just outside those heavy wooden doors.

Thea Evensen 2024

MOTHER’S DAY, MEXICO CITY (poem)