Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.
|
19. Chichen Itza
Dominating the North Platform of Chichen Itza is the Temple of Kukulkan (a Maya feathered serpent deity similar to the Aztec Quetzalcoatl)...On the Spring and Autumn equinoxes, in the late afternoon, the northwest corner of the pyramid casts a series of triangular shadows against the western balustrade on the north side that evokes the appearance of a serpent wriggling down the staircase, which some scholars have suggested is a representation of the feathered-serpent god Kukulkan. --Wikipedia
What To Do If You Are a Feathered Serpent Deity
Wear plumage to mitigate your fangs
to imply flight
suggest softness
Wear scales to camouflage your tenderness
to announce might
define dominance
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014
A complicated poem that shows a complicated god, or so scholars believe. I'm still wondering how much archaeologists get it right. I like the 'what to do' structure, Mary Lee.
ReplyDeleteWhat to do poems are such fun as you must think about the object with a new out-of-the-box thought. Such as "Wear scales to camouflage your tenderness." Your dedication to the project is admirable.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was going to get a post up much earlier today but life got in the way. I started with one poem, that wasn't quite working, so I broke it into two.
ReplyDelete"A Question"
Did Creator God’s
eyes twinkle
as He watched
small humans
chart movement of
His great fireball
across earth dome
measuring three hundred sixty-five
two or three or ten times
discovering precision
of Patterns
hand-created
millions of years
before?
© Carol Wilcox, 2014
Chichén Itzá”
Great Holiness
Humans seeking
to understand
Creator God
chart movement of
great fireball across earth dome
then construct temple
to honor Sacred Precision
Great God smiles
Great Depravity
Humans seeking
to please Chaak,
giver of Rain,
hurl bejeweled beauties
into sinkhole wells
human sacrifice
Great God weeps
© Carol Wilcox, 2014