100 Refutations: Day 72

From the Popol Vuh, or National Quiché History

[Excerpt from Part II]

“Brother, the bats have stopped moving. It looks like the sun has begun to rise,” said Ixbalanqué to Hunahpú.

“Perhaps. I am not sure,” answered Hunahpú, “Let me look…”

And when Hunapú stuck out his head, to see if dawn was breaking, Camazotz cut it off at the neck with a single blow.

“Hunahpú, is it morning yet?” Ixbalanqué asked. And when his brother did not reply, he yelled out, “Hunahpú! Where are you?”

Then Ixbalanqué understood the silence. […]

Bios

Unknown Mayan poet

The Popol Vuh is a collection of mythic, legendary, and historical narratives from the K’iche Maya people, whose current descendants live primarily in Guatemala and the Mexican southwest. It is often referred to as both a historical account and sacred book. It has no single author and may be one of the most important documents to survive colonial cultural eradication efforts. Current copies of the Popol Vuh are taken from the transcription made by Fray Francisco Ximénez and, it has been theorized, an unknown native man who learned the Latin alphabet and then transcribed it from the recitation of an old Maya man.

Lina M. Ferreira C.-V.

Lina M. Ferreira C.-V. earned MFAs in creative nonfiction writing and literary translation from The University of Iowa. She is the author of Drown Sever Sing from Anomalous Press and Don’t Come Back from Mad River Books, as well as editor, with Sarah Viren, of the forthcoming anthology Essaying the Americas. Her fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translation work has been featured in journals including Bellingham ReviewChicago ReviewFourth GenreBrevityPoets & Writers, and The Sunday Rumpus, among others. She won Best of the Net and Iron Horse Review’s Discovered Voices Award, has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, and is a Rona Jaffe fellow. She moved from Colombia to China to Columbus, Ohio to Richmond, Virginia, where she works as an assistant professor for Virginia Commonwealth University. Visit www.linawritesessays.com.

English translation copyright (c) Lina M. Ferreira C.-V., 2018.