Nothing in the Word: Versions of Aztec Poetry

This book is quite a relic (1972), though it is still available from online sources. The late poet, Stephen Berg, founder of the American Poetry Review, translated these 50 poems from the indigenous Nahuatl Indians of Central Mexico. A friend sent it to me recently, and not only was I bitten, but I realized what a good teaching resource this would be in a creative writing class. I would guess that it’s appropriate even for middle schoolers as models of poetic form. The poems are compact and profound, and while they almost all focus on spirituality, there is no lumbering didacticism, no blind adoration of deity.

where are we going Oh where are we going

are we dead are we still alive

is this where time ends is there time somewhere else

people are only here on earth

with pungent flowers and with songs

and out of the world

surely

they make truths!

Gorgeous water color collages by Samuel Maitin are interspersed throughout the poems.There are too many small wonders here for me to call a favorite, but here’s one near the top:

my mouth is full of cries

your flowers your songs

cover the place of mystery

heart

is the truth inside you