Darling of Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs, cochineal
conquered the ever-expanding world—
borne of female coccids boiled, dried, and ground
fine as dust, then woven with water, coaxing color
vibrant as any pink peppercorn, dye so prized,
long before Spain came, natives bred the prickly pear
on which the insects fed to bear fewer spines,
so, horsetail in hand, they could brush the parasites
from the cactus with greater ease,
not bleed the hue they were reaping
like they did once the ships blew in,
when colonists (O, how we whites have sinned!)
gazed at their indigenous skin, branding
them a race, searing sacrilege on their sacred land.
Julie L. Moore, author of Full Worm Moon, directs the writing center at Taylor University in Indiana.
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