Azteca, Mexicana, Americana

Location

Jaguar pelts and spear tips,

The gold that invited the guns,

Temples of stone eking whispers of supplication

From between fierce lips

Who gift themselves to the gods.

Words that transform the tongue into a slippery fish,

Consonants cozied up between “L” walls.

Golden skin kissed by divine Tonatiuh’s warm celestial rays.

A culture rich in its severity, power, and legacy,

México at its peak of passion, built by whimsy and blood.

 

Clay-stained palms and sweaty bandannas,

The hands that fed the ignorant

Tearing cabbage from the earth in defiance,

Working towards a brighter future.

Broken English meets broken book spines,

Dirt-encrusted nails contribute new stains to well worn pages,

Each word a labor of love preferred to a labor of profit.

Golden skin kissed by hours of exertion beneath the broiling Western sun.

A people pursuing happiness in a country they do not know,

Courage spurring their evolution, Curiosity moving them forward.

 

Flowers in hair and inquisitive eyes,

The girl who devours knowledge

Buried behind the ink-stained pages of her recent prey,

Scrabbling for intellectual purchase on the rock face of the world.

Wandering mind filled with stories of old and new,

Wandering feet lead her to wilderness that ignites her spirit.

Golden skin kissed by outdoor escapades and cloud-mottled skies.

My intensity a gift from ancestors, blood lust replaced by wanderlust.

My resolve a gift from parents, fieldwork replaced by book work.

I am my own amalgamation of past and present.

I am flawless.

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