Sure-footed Conchita
descends the mountain,
patient under pressure,
her back bowed
by hundred pound bags
of fragrant coffee beans
hand-picked by Juan Valdez.
Dark-eyed Manuela
avoids uniformed men,
boards a plane,
her stomach full
of cocaine condoms.
The job sustains her family,
destroys others.
Females,
placid or desperate,
beasts of burden
for Columbian exports
to satisfy the world’s appetites.