How To Xorok
Vocabulary:
Xorok: a Q’eqchi Mayan word that describes the action of baking tortillas, usually corn tortillas as corn is the primary staple of the Mayan diet
By Jessica Williams - Peace Corps Volunteer, Belize (2013 - 2015)
zero:
Understand that corn
Is so much more than food
Understand that corn is
The measurement of a season
The foundation of a meal
The strength of a family
Down here,
Corn is a way of life
one:
Take twenty men and plant a field of corn
Wait for the sprouts to grow tall
Keep the weeds chopped
Wait for the sun to dry it all
Keep the birds off the crops
Wait five months
Keep the faith
Take five men and harvest the corn
two:
Pull the ears from the husks
Shell the corn from the cobs
Keep going until you rub a blister on your thumb
Cook it over the fire
Wash it in the river
Grind it on the stone
Keep going until your knees, your back, and your arms ache
three:
Gather your sisters by the fire
Around the table that barely reaches your ankles
Roll out a small ball of ground corn, shaping as you go
Join the steady beat of the percussion section
Women pounding their palms against the tables
Banging out a rhythm laden with the day’s heavy heat,
Forming perfect little sun circles with the curve of their fingers
Learn how to hear the heartbeat of a village
Held in your hands
Waiting to become something alive again
three and a half:
Watch. Try. Fail.
Try again.
You’ll get there one day.
four:
Pass around the bowl stacked full of tortillas fresh off the fire
Burn your fingers but take extra anyway
For this, there is always enough to go around
And everyone is welcome at the table
For the rest of your life
You will associate the smell of cooked corn
With the feeling of being surrounded by family
Take a bite
Find that it tastes like home
This poem was entered in the Volunteer category for the 2015 Peace Corps Poetry Contest. The contest received more than 1,000 submissions, representing over 50 years of Peace Corps service in more than 100 countries.