natsiuanke, or “grid poetry” developed as an homage to both the strict syllable count rules of Japanese Haiku, Chinese Chengyu; four-character idioms, and the typical two-column arrangement of Mayan glyphs. It should be noted that in the context of natsiuanke, what constitutes a “glyph” includes all grammatical and or phonetic markers, known as the ekalo.
The standard form natsiuanke is arranged in a nine-glyph 3x3 matrix, mirroring the 3x3 dot matrix that forms the glyphs themselves.
aye yamahue naha kontomu ma otla ila
/ˈaːjɛ jaˈmaːɦʷɛ ˈnaːha koˈⁿtoːmu ma ˈoːt͡ɬa ˈiːla/
past mountain-LOC river flow-INCH and bird fly
On the mountain the river began to flow, and the bird flew.
nahi nyepalomua mase naye mauan petsa kuhi
/ˈnaːɦi ɲepaˈloːmʷa ˈmaːʃɛ ˈnaːjɛ ˈmaːwan ˈpeːt͡sa ˈkuːɦi/
girl cloud-PL-COM dance while flower-ACC be.delicate grasp
The girl dances with the clouds while grasping a delicate flower.
The extended form functions exactly as the standard but allows for a 4x4 grid of glyphs.
kamakom molinte nya punka tsame te sohokuetan pue kunye uayamu talatli
/kaˈmaːkom moˈliːⁿtɛ ɲa ˈpuːᵑka ˈt͡saːmɛ tɛ sohoˈkʷeːtan pʷɛ ˈkuːɲɛ waˈjaːmu taˈlaːt͡ɬi/
village-AG-PL forest-ABL for fruit gather of harvest-spring-ACC after moon ascend-INCH come-FUT
The villagers will return from the forest for the fruit gathering of the spring harvest after the moon begins to rise.
na’am selan muka ma tolon yasayo kipomua nya omoto sahyatle anya
1pl.EXCL waterfall-ACC face.toward and path-ACC wind.GEN hope-COM for think-way correct-REL watch
We face toward the waterfall watching hopefully for how to think what is correct by the wind.
