SPECTRUM OF HAIKUS FOR MY KALEIDISCOPIC PEOPLE JAVIER PEREZ
Racial Definitions noted by the General
Captaincy of Guatemala, 1770
1. Spanish with Indian produces a Mestizo. 1. Moonlight slants on you
like a dancer held midair
by two ghost-pale hands.
2. Spanish with Mestiza produces a Castizo. 2. Tree roots will dance when
the requiems on your tongue
scratch our palates blue.
3. Spanish with Castiza reverts to Spanish. 3. Blood-mixed Atlantic
thrice-crossed to anagolize
the Resurrection.
4. From Spanish and Negro comes Mulatto. 4. Garnet-red soles womb
volcanic soil for our
fertile sojourning.
5. From Spanish and Mulato comes the Morisco. 5. The earth mourns nightly
by the jiquilite pulp.
Greyed colony.
6. From Morisco and Spanish, the Albino. 6. Cumbia, dyed
from indigo obrajes,
encrypted in blood.
7. From Albino and Spanish the Turnabout. 7. To cauterize a
wound will birth mythology
out of sandy scars.
8. Mulato and Indian engender the Calpamulato. 8. Stars regimented
to retomb on Holy Week,
1625.