Mikeas Sánchez is the author of How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems. She is one of the most important poets of the Indigenous Americas, working in Zoque, a language spoken in southern Mexico. She is the only woman to have ever published a book of poetry in that language. Her six volumes of poetry-including Mokaya / Mojk'Jäyä and Mumure' tä' yäjktambä / Todos somos cimarrones-are all bilingual Spanish-Zoque. Sánchez's work has been translated into Bangla, Catalan, English, German, Italian, Maya, Mixe, and Portuguese. In Chiapas, Mexico, she was awarded first place in the "Y el Bolóm dice . . ." Prize for Fiction as well as the Pat O'tan Prize for Indigenous Poetry. Sánchez is a radio producer, translator, community health promoter, and defender of Zoque [...] lives in Ajway, Chiapas.

Wendy Call is co-editor of Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide and Best Literary Translations, author of the award-winning No Word for Welcome, and translator of two collections of poetry by Mexican-Zapotec poet Irma Pineda: In the Belly of Night and Other Poems and Nostalgia Doesn't Flow Away Like Riverwater. Her literary projects have been supported by Artist Trust, the Fulbright Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Call serves on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program and lives in Seattle, on Duwamish land, and in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Mixtec and Zapotec land.

Shook is a poet, translator, and editor whose work has spanned a wide range of languages and places. Their writing has appeared in Poetry, World Literature Today, the Guardian, and many other publications, as well as being translated into more than a dozen languages, including Isthmus Zapotec, Kurdish, and Uyghur. Since founding Phoneme Media in 2013, Shook has edited and published translations from over thirty-five languages. Today they direct Kashkul Books, a publishing project based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as well as the translation-focused imprint avión at Gato Negro Ediciones in Mexico City. They reside at Newt Beach in Northern California.

Introduction by Jake Skeets

Note on the Translations

Ore’yomo

Ore’yomo

Ore’yomo

Wejpäj’ki’uy

Nombrar las cosas

To Name Things

Mojk’jäyä

Mokaya

Mokaya

Tumjama maka mujsi’

Y sabrás un día

And One Day You Will Know

Te’ kojama wi’rupa jurä nitiyä ji’ nhtä manemä’

El alma retorna al grito del silencio

The Soul Returns to Silence’s Cry

Aisha’

Aisha

Aisha

Rama

Rama

Rama

Mumure’ nhtä’ yäjktampä

Todos somos cimarrones

We’re All Maroons

Nereyda’is myapasyi’äyu nhwyt New’York

Nereyda se soñó en New York

Nereyda Dreamed in New York

[¡Jä! te’ kakuy myojna’pyapä’is mij’ nhkojso]

[¡Ay! de la muerte que te cubre los pies]

[Ay! From the death that covers your feet]

[Maka’ mini’ te’ kakuy / tese’ maka ‘mpyi’are’ mij’ änhkuy’omo]

[Llegará la muerte / y te encontrará en tu cama]

[Death will arrive / and find you in your bed]

[Maka mini te’ kaku’y / te’ wiyunh’sepä]

[Llegará la muerte / la verdadera]

[Death will arrive / the true one]

[Wäkä nhtä’ jampä’ä te’ toya’]

[Que para olvidar el dolor]

[May just one prayer]

[Äkyaj’papä temäjk kätpamä te’ jama teserike te’ tzu’]

[Los que duermen más allá del día y la noche]

[Those who sleep beyond day and night]

[Mujspatzi nyitzäjk’pak teserike yajpak’ te’ jama]

[En el inicio y la culminación del día sé]

[At beginning and end of each day I know]

[Tumä jama tumä pänis]

[Un día un hombre]

[One day a man]

Jesukristo’is ja’ nyiäjk’tyiäjya äj’ tzumama’is Kyonukskuy

Jesucristo no entendió jamás los ruegos de mi abuela

Jesus Never Understood My Grandmother’s Prayers

Wanhjampatzi yom’nhkomi nyiäyi’päis Soledad

Mi Virgen se llama soledad

My Virgin’s Named for Solitude

Nhtä’ nhtzamä ore’ sasyapyä tire’

Ser zoque es un privilegio

To Be Zoque Is a Privilege

Päjkinh’tzyoki’uy’ mokaya’pätkoroya

Recibimiento del hombre mokaya

Reception for a Mokaya Man

Päjkinh’tzyi’okyuy mokaya’yomo’koroya

Recibimiento de la mujer mokaya

Reception for a Mokaya Woman

Aj’ jara’is tzi’upä’

Mi padre me dio un regalo

My Father Gave Me a Gift

We’we’

Wewe

Wewe

Tzoko’tzyame

Pensar con el corazón

Thinking with Our Hearts

Wäkä’ jana tyi’ujanämä’ nijp’pyajpak

Para que no llueva el día de tu entierro

So It Won’t Rain on Your Burial Day

Wenhti’

Ofrenda

Gift

Tumä une’ mapasyiäpya

Un niño sueña

A Child Dreams

Jujtzyi’e nhtä wäpä tzamapänh’ajä

Cómo ser un buen salvaje

How to Be a Good Savage

Te’ meke

El festín

Feast

Mapasyiäpyatzi yäjkpä’wakas

Soñando con un toro negro

Dreaming of a Black Bull

Pistinh

Ceiba

Ceiba

Mäja kupkuy’omo Saspalankis’yuneram jätyi’ampatzi

Los hijos de Saspalanki lloramos en la gran ciudad

Saspalanki’s Children Cry in the Big City

Sonerampäte

Somos Millones

We Are Millions

Nä’pyajpa, Mokayaram maka’ yajpä’ya’e

Dicen que los Mokayas nos extinguiremos

They Say the Mokayas Will Go Extinct

Jujtzyi’ere’

¿Cuánto vale?

What Is It Worth?

Tä’ mokaya’ramte

Somos mokayas

We Are Mokayas

Mokaya, kämanä’

Escucha, mokaya

Listen, Mokaya

Maka’ tä’ wyrurame nhtä’ ‘tunh’omo

Volveremos al camino

Returning to the Path

Notes on the Poems

Acknowledgments