Five illustrated haikus

Issue 22

Indigenous Literature

by Canario de la Cruz

June, 2022

Iyak’ jiñi ik’
tikla-kukla tyi ipam witstyak,
tyi ipam-pañchañ.

The wind: a rider
mounted on the back
of a meadow.

Säsäk xk’ux siptyak
woli la’ jap säk tyokal
ts’uj japämela.

The white herons
comets overwhelming
a river of clouds.

Ma’añix iyopol,
tyekwa’alixtyobä tye’
mi sow mek’ pañchañ.

The leafless tree
an upside down octopus
embracing the sky.

Tyi petyol cholel
säk’ajel woli tyi ñich
tyi wich’ ili ik’.

Green corn field:
daybreak gleaning
the wind’s wings.

Tyi ibäk’tyak iwuty bajlum
lämä-lämäl jiñi uw
mi its’äy k’äk’añ matye’el.

In the jaguar’s pupils
the shining moon
is a forest flower.

Translations into English by Paul M. Worley
Illustrations by Marco Antonio López Arcos
From the book Chänp’e ibäk’tyak k’ay cha’añ juñtyikil alob/Cuatro semillas para cantar a un niño/Four Seeds to Sing to a Child

Marco Antonio López Arcos is Maya Ch’ol, born in the town of 20 de Noviembre, Palenque, Chiapas. At four years old he participated in the “Our Ecosystem” painting competition, winning first prize. In secondary school he took part in the “Almas Libres” competition sponsored by the Aluxes Zoo in Palenque, with the painting he produced winning first place. He studied general nursing in his hometown, but has remained focused on art. In early 2020 he participated in the cultural brigades sponsored by the Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada Cultural Center in Palenque, Chiapas. He has learned a number of painting techniques from Jorge Antonio Manzo Barrios, the visual artist and muralist from Palenque, Chiapas.

Canario de la Cruz

Canario de la Cruz is Maya-Ch’ol, from Pactiún, Tumbalá, Chiapas. He is the coordinator of the Ch’ol poetry anthology Iwejlel k’uk/Vuelo de quetzal (2021) and author of the poetry collection Mayinaj. In the Juegos Florales de Berriozábal, Chiapas (2020), he received third place for his book Chämp’e ibäk’tyak k’ay cha’añ juñtyikil alob: Cuatro semillas para cantar a un niño. He won an award in the Canto Floral Nueva Lírica para los Árboles competition for his book Isoñ tsimiltye’: Danzas de la ceiba, and his Ixämbal k’iñ: El recorrido del sol (2022) received an award in the 3rd Alas de lagartija competition. He is a teacher at an Indigenous primary school.

Paul M. Worley

Paul M. Worley is Associate Professor of Global Literature at Western Carolina University. He is the author of Telling and Being Told: Storytelling and Cultural Control in Contemporary Yucatec Maya Literatures (2013; oral performances recorded as part of this book project are available at tsikbalichmaya.org), and with Rita M. Palacios is co-author of the forthcoming Unwriting Maya Literature: Ts’íib as Recorded Knowledge (2019). He is a Fulbright Scholar, and 2018 winner of the Sturgis Leavitt Award from the Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies. In addition to his academic work, he has translated selected works by Indigenous authors such as Hubert Malina, Adriana López, and Ruperta Bautista, serves as editor-at-large for México for the journal of world literature in English translation, Asymptote, and as poetry editor for the North Dakota Quarterly.

From Music for Bamboo Strings, translated by Lawrence Schimel

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