“Cempohualxochitl”

Tal vez nos suele a perder con las lluvias
o que los días menguantes nos alarman,
pero fuerte me quiero quedar.

Busco a mi alrededor, y aquí estás,
pequeña linterna. Veo tus veinte pétalos
y cada uno es un acantilado santo.

Como propio sendero enhebrado entre mundos,
naciste de la tierra y hueles de otra.
Tu olor consagra este pasaje entre nosotres,
les quienes estamos aquí y les de más allá.

Con el corazón tierno, sigo contigo a mi lado.
Tus veinte pétalos se me caen y mis ancestres saltan!
En tí, encontramos la dicha de la muerte.

(artist’s translation to english)

“Flower of Twenty Petals (Mexican Marigold in Aztec)

Sometimes we tend to get lost with the rains
or that the waning days alarm us,
but I want to remain strong.

I look around me, and here you are,
little lantern. I see your twenty petals
and each one is a holy cliff.

Its own pathway strung between worlds,
you were born of this earth and you smell of another.
Your scent blesses this passage between us,
those of us who are here and those of us beyond.

With a tender heart, I continue with you by my side.
Your twenty petals fall over me and my ancestors leap!
In you, we find the joy of death.”

Cempohualxochitl, 14’ x 6’ x 8’, Día de Muertes 2022, original poem handset in moveable type and collaboratively printed on Sirio Ultrablack 280 gsm, gold ink, marigolds grown by Mariquita Medicinals (pictured above), and thread.

Mix of photos by the artist and Estefania Zavala