Creation Myth (1981)

I was born drunk & paisley, vestige

from the womb. My face laughed into itself—

eyes sank into earlobe & nostrils warped into seahorse.

I was vanilla bean & Mexican vanilla & amniotic

dessert, & my mother did everything she could not to devour me.

I became comino & ajo & hibiscus—

all good for grinding. Mocajete, fist, & knuckle decomposing mass

& matter, baby & mother. When she tried to stillbear me it hurt

until she cried diamonds while my father was swapping spit

with the agave.

Source: Karankawa (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015)