[Aztlan] Chicanna jpgs and poem

[Lorna Huff]

Hello Listeros,


Please see these photo images from Chicanna (with Links generously provided by Aztlan): 


http://www.famsi.org/aztlan/uploads/Chicanna-Structure-1.JPG
 
http://www.famsi.org/aztlan/uploads/Chicanna-Structure-1-2.JPG
   

These roguish looking characters are found on Structure 1.  Linda Schele's
Chicanna site photo # 81002 in the FAMSI collection shows one of these
same faces, located beneath a bench.  Her photo # 81014 shows some tiered low
benches on Structure 1 with similar detail.   I know little about what
these figures might represent... For instance, the ' petal ' shapes
encircling the face as seen in Linda's photo makes it appear rather
like a decorative 'emblem' of some sort?  Perhaps others can shed
some light ? 


I also included a poem for those who might enjoy it. The 'first face' is the second link but hopefully that will be obvious.


Lorna Huff 






Hero Portraits at Chicanna




Where you enter a maw,

Look close to see, near the ground

Two faces, their features 

Carved deep in rugged stone blocks:


The first face with one eye

Riddled by scar tissue;

The other eye is a black bead

Piercing its socket.

Mouth is cartouche, 

Full of silent vowel.


Second face with eyes 

Turned inward by long dry seasons,

Black fungus mask grows

Over where light empties out.

Mouth is smudge, incoherent.


Here lie twin heroes, 

Struck by lightning,

Caught in a leaf of ornate Rio Bec,

Willing tempests 

To melt away their enclosures ;

Bring final surrender 

To the lords of death.








 

           
            
            
                
                
                
                 
                
                 Chicanna Structure 1.2.JPG
                
                
            
        
        
    
    
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