School - Briceida Cuevas Cob

And the ants that sing, laugh, dance

and play in circles, began to cry.

She was born a woman, one on whom they

threw boiling water when she appeared

in the kitchen.¹

You will go to school.

You will not be an empty head.

You will cross over the threshold of your imagination

enter your own house

and not have to knock at the door.

And contemplating a face that resembles yours

you will discover that from your eyelashes

night arrows are put in the heart of the land,

your innocence descends

and the grandeur of your ancestry rises.

You will go to school

and in the cupped hands of your understanding

you will contend with the draining of the womb of the woman of your race.

With your heel

you will decipher the hieroglyphics written by the sand,

the wind and sun.

You will be wide-eyed with admiration

contemplating your languishing breasts

which have poured life over the earth.

You will go to school

but you will return to your house,

your kitchen,

to paint the womb of the mat with achiote²,

to note the tongue of soot that licks your white dress,

to inflate the fiery sphere with your lungs,

to judge the delicate fingers of smoke with your eyes,

to read the sizzle on the other side of the comal³,

to read the crackle of the fire.⁴

You will return to your kitchen

because a banquet awaits you.

Because the oven keeps a mirror in its innards.

A mirror in which the imprint of your soul is found.

A mirror that invokes you with the voice of its brilliance.

---

Briceida Cuevas Cob (born 1969) Mexico

Translated Earl Shorris & Sylvia Sasson Shorris

Source: Words Without Borders

1. The author alludes to a traditional Maya song. The ants were made happy by the birth of a boy, because when he becomes an adult he will make a gift of the corn from his own provisions. When a girl grows up, on the contrary, they will scare her away from the kitchen by throwing boiling water at her.
2. Annato
3. A flat surface for cooking
4. The belief that the fire in a kitchen can transmit messages about visits or occurrences in the future.