A Moon Over Mexico

 ***

the historians 

are careful to note

that when the Spaniards arrived

this was 

a declining civilization

the Mayans

and this temple 

in Tulum

with the statue tying

its umbilical cord

to the goddess of

fertility

where the door

gazed out to

the rising sun in the east, 

and i joked that

somebody now should create 

a temple to infertility, 

that these days, such a place

would drive pilgrims from

all the world around. 

and then in Mahahual

me writing

to remember what I

forgot

and my buddy

who rubs his temples

each morning

trying to restore the

mohawk that he lost.

white sand feeding

white necked palms

thatched roofs and

sudden storms

the peace before

and guero girls dancing

in the wake

a photographer waiting

at the break

chirping, as the birds did

laughing

at the ridiculousness

of it all

Their beauty and

the miracle of flaunting it

in impossible blue waters

so much fish

in the sea

when the camera 

was gone

one returned from the land

into fossilized waves

as it was always meant to be

and danced, her rainbow colors

fluttering

finally, free.

***