beau sturm

yukatan

neon blue lights
create artificial jungle.
sand streets peer
out from under
sombreros and bright
white shirts.

dogs cry while mothers
nurse the night under
thatched roofs so
jesus and his virgin
can live in stone mansions
constructed by a distant
enemy that is now an in-law.

serpents still fight
for rain to fertilize
rocks and dirt.

maya's endangered youth
pray to a new god
dressed in a caravan
of silver-plated tourists.