Today's poem is by Christian Teresi

The Nine Mayan Gods of the Underworld Explain Delusions to John Roberts
        What unique perspective does a minority student bring to a physics class?—Chief Justice John
        Roberts, U.S. Supreme Court, Fisher v. Texas, December 9, 2015

We know the place you were once innocent—without
The protection of lies. Without power that each time revealed

Incrementally celebrated the not-really and never-were.
What passed coolly over river rock—fused between

Unnamed prairie and unknown delta—still stretches
Unbroken without a need for proclamation. You called

For the dead dog because toddlers do not understand death.
When Cortés arrived off the coast of Mexico, he ordered

A native brought to his ship, as he believed was the right
Of the conquistador. Cortés asked his Mayan captive.

Ma c'uhah than, the man replied, and the Spanish first heard
Yucatán, the place of their discovery, where Ma c'uhah than

Means, "I do not understand you." We have heard
The song of warriors who taunt and boast with trinkets

They believe must be taken from the dispossessed
And busted inside out by boredom and bootheels if only

To scare confessions from their captives' throats. Soldiers
Protected by pretend. We would not speak than speak

Of scatterings where tyrants forget they wear the old veils.
Be ancient, a forgotten language satisfied with being lost.

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Copyright © 2024 Christian Teresi All rights reserved
from What Monsters You Make of Them
Red Hen Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission