Carnaval

My Prompt #43 Submission

I hadn’t heard English spoken by a native speaker for almost two months when I arrived in Oaxaca City. And I’d never seen anything like it. The city itself was almost 500 years old, and the history of the Zapotec culture makes the city look like an infant.

I’d been in the worst state of mind possible over the past few months. But something started to shift in Oaxaca. I can’t name it. I think some would call it hope, but I’m not sure it was anything more than the noticing of life.

But as I walked those stone streets, 
Between the vendors of the Zocalo,
The spectacle of wealth and poverty,
Maybe I started to realize that I’d been blind,
Lost inside my own mind,
Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?

No, it wasn’t hope.

But Oaxaca City did show me that life continued.

There was a pulse — something to grab onto. Something, that hadn’t existed before…

And I began to ask myself,
Have I been blind
Have I been lost
Have I been wrong
Have I been wise
Have I been strong
Have I been hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have found
In that great street carnival?

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Here’s this week’s prompt, Carnival, by Natalie Merchant!

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