Mikeas Sánchez

• How To Be a Good Savage
  

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My grandfather Simón wanted to be a good savage,
he learned Spanish,
and all the saints’ names.
He danced before the altar
and was baptized with a smile.
My grandfather had the force of Red
Thunder
and his nagual was a tiger.
My grandfather was a poet
who healed with words.
But he wanted to be a good savage,
learned to eat with a spoon,
and the Nhkirawa’s electric lamps
impressed him.
My grandfather was a powerful shaman
who spoke the gods’ language.
He wanted to be a good savage,
but he never quite learned how.
 
 

MIKEAS SÁNCHEZ is a poet from Mexico. She holds a master's degree in Didactics of Language and Literature from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her poems have appeared on BBC Radio, Poetry, Bengal Lights, World Literature Today, Orion Magazine, The Bitter Oleander, and The Drunken Boat. She is the author of 7 books of poetry. Her most recent publication is How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems, Milkweed Editions, 2024. Her poetry has been translated into Catalan, Italian, Bengali, German, Mayan, French, Mixe, Sami, Portuguese and English.

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