When Women Built the Cross, 01 November 2021 Teleran, Costa Rica

Damp red clay roofs

Angled against green hills

Where white cows graze in in the rain

A looming cement cross on top of the tallest hill; erected a decade before

by three men who searched for a task to display their faith filtered through their sordid reputations

Rolled into the eyes of their passive wives; one a drunk, one a womanizer and the other a laggard poet

Each man accused the other of loafing, poor craftsmanship or not giving a shit when the real work began

One after the other they dropped out. The only evidence was the foundation on the hill.

The project was abandoned for months – till their determined wives started to work on the cross. They raised the funds. The base was reinforced, metal posts were driven deep, steel rebars for the cross, and they ran electric to the top of the hill and installed wooden benches. The area blessed by Father Cardinal

Close to completion and feeing embarrassed, the men took back their tools and they declared the project was finished when they saw there was little more, they could do.

At night the cross is lit for all to see in the village. Their wives sit on the benches overlooking the town and drink and smoke and laugh as the wind ruffles their long hair.

In the mornings, dogs stir, roosters crow and the men grudgingly return to their retched and lonely existences.