Pinochet Gets All the Girls

Miguel Aldaco

Monsanto sounds like
that South American city—
Anacondas
and in duffels tumble torsos—
spelled out in drain pipes, sieve up
the sewer system. Out with the bathwater
go the archipelagos and
a lot more you care
not to know.

You imagine it’s a place
where you speak in helium
to the dictator, while he’s stymied by
what computers do
over brunch.

You tell him
something general
something electric,
and a whole molecule
of things lost and found.

He argues
on the strength of what things
sound like—how his best years
were spent
inventing electric bunk beds,
even flipped a switch
at the city’s first
discotheque.

Note: Under Pinochet, the “discotheque” was
the nickname of a secret detention center
known for playing loud music to drown out
the screams of its inmates.

Bio
Miguel Aldaco is a new father.  His baby says he's pretty cool, but what does she know?  She's only five weeks in.  His writing is good, but whenever she tries dad to get poetry out of him, he tries out his dad jokes.  Pacifier humor anyone?  Zzzzzz...