I
The white bird traverses the nocturne sky,
a parrot of dark omens,
someone predicts your death and leads herself
to your house to embalm it with misery.
II
They’ll miss you, the un-shucked corn and the wagon,
we all want you to leave content
and that you’re buried with your saddle,
your straw hat
your satchel and machete,
that you’re buried with all you grasped,
with all that you lashed,
that it ends like that.
III
Old man,
my great father,
tata,
you accustomed me to waking early
to walk with the Bright Star to the milpa,
to surprise the roosters,
today I did it your way, old man,
I took my spade and pickaxe and went to cultivate
your tomb,
I made it wide and
deep
so you feel free inside.
IV
On the box
we hammered twelve nails,
twelve,
twelve were your children who cried,
twelve,
twelve was the last month of your life. New was the moon
that stood vigil at your death. Twelve were the steps
from your altar to the street,
twelve,
twelve hands beneath the earth,
twelve,
twelve were the leaves of the falling dawn,
twelve.
V
In your tomb, a wooden cross,
modest and erect, a few letters
that spell your name, a necklace
of yellow flowers.
You always said
this land is good for planting
and starting a life, herbivores
of your word we sowed
basil and sunflower seeds
in your tomb, so your resurrection
within her will be fruitful and clean.
How to Die in Zapotec
Dalthon Pineda
translated from the Isthmus Zapotec by Jake Sandler
Dalthon Pineda (b. 1987) was born into a family of poets, activists, and community leaders in Juchitán de Zaragoza, a growing city in the isthmus of Oaxaca that has a storied history of forming strategic and successful resistance movements and political alliances around the binniza (Isthmus Zapotec identity) in order to maintain, regain, and modernize communal and political claims to land. Just a decade before he was born, Pineda’s family was involved in the emergence of the leftist, grassroots Coalition of Students, Peasants and Workers (COCEI) party, which, in 1981, became the first party to defeat the national PRI party in the municipal elections. Pineda is an anchor of the youth community, encouraging political engagement while discouraging street gangs and violence. His poetry is widely regarded throughout activist circles in the state of Oaxaca and elsewhere. Most importantly, Pineda was born and raised in Juchitán’s “Séptima Sección” (Seventh Ward), which is known for being the place where diidxaza, the binniza language, is still spoken in its most traditional, poetic form. He lives with his wife and children at the foot of a small mountain just outside of town, and teaches physical education at an elementary school in La Séptima.
Jake Sandler is a poet and translator currently studying anthropology in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2006, he was on a family trip in the city of Oaxaca when the now famous student protests broke out broke out and compelled the presence of the armed forces and the national guard. As he and his family evacuated to Mexico City, he always knew he would be back to find out more. In 2012, after studying poetry in college, he went to Juchitán where the resistance movement was being carried on by a group of young poets, led by Dalthon Pineda. Sandler and Pineda are currently working on a number of collaborative projects that include hip hop artists, young historians, and storytellers, as well as graffiti and mural art. Sandler currently publishes his own work on Instagram under the pen name Rio Jones.
