THE LITTLE BOX FROM OLINALA 

For Ema and Daniel Cossio

I

My little box 

from Olinala

Is rosewood 

and jacaranda.

When suddenly I 

open it, it exudes 

a Queen-of-Sheba 

fragrance.

Oh tropical 

whiff of cloves, 

mahogany 

and copal!

I place it here,

I leave it there,

it comes and goes

through corridors.

It boils 

from Grecian frets 

like a land of 

figwood, deer 

and quail,

volcanoes

with great apertures

and the Indian

swaying in the wind 

like corn.

Like so, 

they are painted, 

like so, like so:

Indian fingers 

or hummingbirds;

and thus it is 

made perfectly 

by the Aztec hand, 

the Quetzal hand.

II

When night 

isabout to fall, 

because it guards me 

from evil,

I place it on a 

small pillow 

where others place 

their treasures.

It fills my dreams 

with beauty. 

It makes me laugh 

and weep...

Through my hands,

the sea passes,

twin sierras,

furrowed fields.

One Sees the Anahuac 

shining again, 

the beast of Ajusco 

about to leap,

and through the path 

that leads to the sea 

Quetulcoati

will be reached.

It is my breath,

I am its feet;

it is knowledge:

I am delirium.

And we stop 

like manna 

where the road 

is already abundant,

where they shout 

to us halala! 

The ladies of Olinala.

Box from Olinala – boxes from Olinala Mexico, made of fragrant wood, are

painted and decorated

twin sierras – the east and West Sierra Madres

Ajusco – the hill Ajusco dominates the capitol
 
 
 

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Page last edited February 14, 2000
by: PhoneBoy