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5/8/2017 7:19:11 AM Anil Deo Posts: 2	Staking Claims: For Yucatec Maya & Native PeoplesThe stones of the desert cry with meThey are brothers and sisters, but no bloody kinNew hearts see just cold rocks … no warmth or charity …Might you see how we worship gods in them?The gods themselves are dead, buried in hopeless holesThey died when we could not stop the excesses of each ColumbusWho brought a brutal hunger for gold and soulsThen bone and marrow fell within Columbus’ compassThe trees and tree stumps of the YucatanHold deep scars and memories in their bosomsThe limestone cries quietly for the sons of Chillam BalamTheir tears yielding tomorrow’s blossomsFor even grasses, herbs, insects … knowThat they too will be sucked, one after anotherAway from the withering, wrinkled body of our MotherThrough a gaping hole in the atmosphereAll earth cries with the sun and stone worshippersThe blackened peasant clasps his callused handsWith those last calories from a breakfast of peppersUnaware that his gods died hopelessly condemnedThe desert explodes into those oasesWhere infatuated faith still yields cool, delicious fleshAnd forgiving flowers among the spikes in the cactus:The desert and stones are gentler than Columbus ©Dr. A. S. Deo, 500 Years after Columbus, circa 1996.
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6/7/2017 12:53:49 AM Jerome Malenfant Posts: 26	It's hard to evaluate the poem because it's very difficult to read with all the lines run together like that.
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