For seven years
I wrote speeches for important people.

I put my words in their mouths
And they spoke them.

For a while it was fun
Playing ventriloquist.

But after wagging their tongues
From morning till night
Mine would get tired and tied.

I lost my head
From thinking so much
With theirs.

First my voice acquired a foreign accent,
Then went bad and got lost.

Generous reward offered
To anyone who finds
And shoves it down my throat
Where it belongs.


-- Panama, January 23, 2005