Mother of All Political Poetry, Yucatec Maya and Dr Anil Sook Deo

Staking Claims: For Yucatec Maya & Native Peoples The stones of the desert cry with me They are brothers and sisters, but no bloody kin New 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 holes They died when we could not stop the excesses of each Columbus Who brought a brutal hunger for gold and souls Then bone and marrow fell within Columbus’ compass The trees and tree stumps of the Yucatan Hold deep scars and memories in their bosoms The limestone cries quietly for the sons of Chillam Balam Their tears yielding tomorrow’s blossoms For even grasses, herbs, insects … know That they too will be sucked, one after another Away from the withering, wrinkled body of our Mother Through a gaping hole in the atmosphere All earth cries with the sun and stone worshippers The blackened peasant clasps his callused hands With those last calories from a breakfast of peppers Unaware that his gods died hopelessly condemned The desert explodes into those oases Where infatuated faith still yields cool, delicious flesh And 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. BACKGROUND NOTE OF HORRORS: (Written in the 1990s. Blood and tears are part of the story, not only for Native Peoples like the Maya of the Yucatan, but for my wife and daughters, too. A Sri Lankan professor allied with my Promoter/Chairman of my doctoral committee, objected to my politics outside of the classroom. They used the clout of the legal department at my campus, The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, to shut me up and deny my degree. They failed, thanks to my “cold stone gods” and Jesus. I defended my thesis, successfully, on 1 May 1995 and was back working in my native South Africa in June 1995! Soon I was hired by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria, when Nelson Mandela was President. He retired in 1998. Sadly, little changed in the then DFA at the Union Buildings, and poor of South Africa … and across the globe, continue to get false hope & promises from Liberals, Conservatives, Blacks & Whites. Jesus alone will speak truth to you, about EVERYTHING. Check a Bible near you, start with John's Book)