Queen Moo's Talisman: The Fall of the Maya Empire

The poem dramatizes the decline of a ruling Maya dynasty through a royal family's tragic conflicts: rivalry between princely brothers over a princess leads to jealousy, combat, and events that trigger political collapse. Verses weave together reconstructed prayers, songs, and ceremonial chants matched to indigenous melodies and depict funerary rites, artifacts, and iconography, including a recovered talisman. An extended introduction outlines names, customs, comparative language ideas, and archaeological observations, and plates plus a musical appendix supplement the poet's reconstruction of ritual life, mural interpretations, and the spiritual beliefs that frame the narrative.