#130 Zozobra, MCMXVIII by MJR Montoya

The specter caravan passes
Far beyond the bishop’s glean

The boy screams
Cucui,
Do not come for the harvest
La Tuerta,
Do not burn the moon

All devils become a vacuum
For ourselves

The wicker man wears
War paint

Unholy sorrow grinds
Salvation into the smoke

The boy screams
Cucui,
Do not drink my river
La Tuerta,
Don’t cut me with your eyes

The ivory man
Points at you

And we spit flies
Down the spirit well

Man kills man

And we lock ourselves
In Zozobra’s cage
Screaming
Cucui, go away already,
It feels like you are hiding inside of my head.
—

MJR Montoya is a native of Mora, NM.  He is a professor of global structures at the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management, a Rhodes scholar, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  His poetry is collected in a volume entitled Era of the Glass Calavera. 

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