Mayan poet Briseida Cuevas Cob is a member of the Indigenas Languages Writers in Mexico and the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua. Briceida favors everyday life subjects as seen in her poem "IV," from her collection U yok’ol auat pek’ ti kuxtal pek’ / El quejido del perro en su existencia / The growl of the dog in its existence published in 1995. Poem IV, written in Yucatec Mayan language, contemplates ignorance, indifference, and violence against stray dogs. Perhaps the stray dog symbolizes some of the struggles of Mayan people.

IV

Box
sak,
k’an,
chukuá,
jonjon box ti sak.
Máalix pek’,
náachil pek’.
Leili júntul u puksík’aloob.
Tech tune
tak u chen janal kastlan pek’ka manik.
Tech tune
ka chen jósil tak xínxinbal ti k’íuik.
Tech tune
ka takchatik máalix pek’ yétel a p’ek.
Tech tune
bey a uol tu man ta pach tiólal le bak má tan a puliktío.
Má a uójel ua le pek’a
kímil ku man tu pach a bákel.

IV

Black,
White,
Yellow,
brown,
dappled.
Stray dog,
stranger dog.
They have the same heart.
But you
only buy food for the purebred dog.
But you
even take him for a walk on the square.
So you
kick the stray dog with scorn.
You
think he walks behind you for the bone you don’t throw him.
You don’t know that this dog
is death walking behind your bones.

English translation by Arthur Dixon, Managing editor of Latin Amerinca Literature Today, Univeristy of Oklahoma.