Jan Conn - zapotecs

I would like to be kidnapped by a Zapotec
but am too small to climb the pyramids.

Learn to stuff the pavo in Náhuatl; domestication
of the braceleted fertility goddess took centuries.

Her tiny Oaxacan sandal is the true-blue
destination of all these raucous pilgrims.

The eccentric quiffed hair, the nose plug: this handsome
terracotta dignitary leaves me speechless.

Go visit the vampire bat, he’s divine.
Carries our deaths through the endless night.

I rasp a stick across a turtle shell; the dark
belongs to me, and the horrible twilit blue.