Xochitl
 
Broken, not vain
your body bled
itself onto canvas.
Colors sharp as
skewered flesh,
an Aztec vision
emerging from
the wreckage,
like a sacrificed
child, virginity
lost to obsidian
blade or cruel
Conquistador steel,
a golden yet
twisted dream.
Your crimson
oil flowing
like a hammer
and sickle flag,
yellows hot
as Tehuana sun,
mole sweet your
tinctured browns.
Your passion
naked as birth,
stark as truth
knit your eyebrows
like sutured skin
and the fractured
keyboard of your
spine spoke of a
second crucifixion
goading the faithless
to count their blessings
on the skull white
Day of the Dead.
 

Copyright 1998, Scott Galasso
 
William Scott Galasso is a member of the Seattle Live Poets and the author of seven poetry books, including Rainbow Music and Vermillion Falling.  He has been published in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Romania, Croatia, and the U.K.

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