Sea’s Fire
A flag off the pole
off the boat off the
beach off the coast
off the grid flaps
like it’s nothing to be hung
in a row: US, Canada,
Mexico.
On the bow,
palm tree shadows cast
jigsaw and teeth;
feathers and sun scald,
a steady bop to a tidal
chorus.
Forgive us, sea.
A ground unceded.
Peace rests nape-to-nape
nestled in the curved ebb
of morning. Two, and infinite,
bodies woven in the same,
celestial crochet.
Venus, take our hand.
Wake us in the ochre
halls of honey.
Hello! I was on vacation last week and decided to not send out anything. I’m back now though… so, let’s go!
I was in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico with my family and some dear family friends. The days were filled with as much sea life as people life, the Mesoamerican Reef spanning multiple countries in length, and countless opportunities to feel at awe with the world.
This poem was inspired by sitting on our balcony and overlooking the bay, where a boat sat in the harbor flying all of the flags of North America. One day, we went on a tour of the Tulum archeological zone (ruins). There, our guide stressed numerous times the longevity of the civilization, as well as the challenge of being a disaggregated city-state (i.e individual kings resulted in more feuding, territorial disputes, etc.).
Above many of the doorways is a carving of the “Descending God” which is believed to depict both Venus (the Mayan God of War and Fighting and served as a guide into the underworld, hence the descending) and Ah Muu Zen Caab (the Mayan God of Bees) In this region, many bees are stingless. This Descending God is also sometimes known to be Kukulcan, or, ‘the feathered serpent’. Fascinating to have a god that can represent both/either war and a stingless, honeymaking creature.
Something about this story plus the varied flagpole merged in my brain and formed this poem. Maybe I was feeling tranquility. Maybe I was thinking about the Mayans. Maybe I was thinking about the children at their local school and how, when asked to get rid of some of the “nonrelevant” recent donations to their library, D and I parsed conflictedly through the many books of war told from the perspective of the victor.
This is about both the sea as witness of us and the sea in relationship to us. Yes, the title is a play on words.
Thanks for reading.