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davidbowles.us
David Bowles
@davidbowles.us
5K followers 1.1K following 1.4K posts
Writer. Translator. Nahuatlahtoh. Chicano. He/él/yehhua. Pan [💖💛💙]. Representation: Full Circle Literary. President of the Texas Institute of Letters. Associate Professor at UTRGV.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · Aug 1
I'm going to launch a Latine romance imprint, focusing mostly on queer stories, but also special straight ones.

It will be called NEKISSOH—

—Nahuatl for "desirable" or "desired."

Among our publications will be the queer historical romances I'm writing as Aeron Zaldívar.

More details soon!
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 1d
New update on Ancestry [dot] com confirms that people from nearly every continent have mingled together to make this particular Mexican American, heh.
Image showing regions in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia that David has ancestry from.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 2d
BTW, I wrote a piece about the origin of the word "muxe" (touching on the nature of muxe identity) six years ago:
Mexican X Part XIII: The Muxe’ and the Spanish Sibilant Shift
“Hey, David, what about the ‘x’ in muxe’? Where did that come from? And what IS a muxe’, anyway?”
davidbowles.medium.com
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 2d
BTW, I wrote a piece about the origin of that word (touching on the nature of muxe identity) six years ago:
Mexican X Part XIII: The Muxe’ and the Spanish Sibilant Shift
“Hey, David, what about the ‘x’ in muxe’? Where did that come from? And what IS a muxe’, anyway?”
davidbowles.medium.com
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 2d
Wild. Also, as a linguist who lives part of the year in the state of Oaxaca, I know that "muxe" is literally just the 16th-century Spanish pronunciation of "mujer," meaning "woman."

Furthermore, Indigenous identity and sexuality operates along different axes than Western conceptualizations.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 2d
Ditto. Cis/het anthropologists have gotten SO MUCH shit wrong about Indigenous queerness.
dragonsaffron.bsky.social
Saffron @dragonsaffron.bsky.social · 2d
I hate cis anthropologists I hate cis anthropologists I hate cis anthropologists I hate cis anthropologists
Muxes identify with lo femenino or what is feminine and many dress in traditional female attire, but they are not gen- erally seeking to be transgender, or to be accepted as women. The gay men I interviewed were even more emphatic and quick to differentiate themselves from muxes. Mario, an articulate twenty-four-year-old gay man, for example, said that For me a muxe is a man who identifies as a woman and likes to dress like a woman. I am not muxe. I am gay because I have never wanted to dress like a woman or to be one. They work in female trades. I know I am a man.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 2d
Ditto. Cis/het anthropologists have gotten SO MUCH shit wrong about Indigenous queerness.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 3d
Here's my English translation of the twenty-SIXTH Nahuatl poem in the codex SONGS OF THE LORDS OF ANAHUAC (known by its Spanish title "Romances de los señores de la Nueva España").
At Hummingbird Mountain
The twenty-sixth cuicatl in Songs of the Lords of Anahuac, my English translation of the codex Romances de los señores de la Nueva España.
davidbowles.medium.com
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 3d
Thanks!
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 4d
Here's my English translation of the twenty-fifth Nahuatl poem in the codex SONGS OF THE LORDS OF ANAHUAC (known by its Spanish title "Romances de los señores de la Nueva España").
No One Will Remain
The twenty-fifth cuicatl in Songs of the Lords of Anahuac, my English translation of the codex Romances de los señores de la Nueva España.
davidbowles.medium.com
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 4d
"thehive.ai evaluates all images posted to the site. We don't actually provide any input"

That, bro.

ALL. MOTHER. F^CKING. IMAGES. Not whatever brown-nosing bullshit you said above.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 4d
Today sees the publication of two translations of mine: EL PEZ ARCOÍRIS SE ESCAPA DE LA RED, my translation of the newest Rainbow Fish book, RAINBOW FISH AND THE GREAT ESCAPE, as well as the board book "El Pez Arcoíris"!
El Pez Arcoíris se escapa de la red
The tenth book in the New York Times bestselling Rainbow Fish series encourages care and respect for the ocean and its creatures. El décimo libro d...
www.simonandschuster.com
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Reposted by David Bowles
courtneymilan.com
Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 5d
The idea that we can just not shoot at all, or even control the narrative afterward, is hard for me to imagine.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
Indeed! Comedy gold. There's a whole poem in the Nahuatl codex CANTARES MEXICANOS that features a much older priest trying to get into the loincloth of a young man.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
In Classical Nahuatl, there are a worrisome number of ways to say "horny priest."

Yikes.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
非常恰當 ... Quite a fitting quote, LOL.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
"Go" by Chemical Brothers, featuring Q-Tip.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
Inihqueh in = those [who]
quitēcāhualtiah = they prevent it for people
tlamatcā = peaceful
tzonteyōtl = revolution
quitēchīhualtiah = they cause it for people
yōlcocōleh = violent
tzonteyōtl revolution
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
I can imagine what some of you are thinking: "Oops, David, you left off the glottal stops at the end of the verbs!" ;)

Should look like this:

Inihqueh in quitēcāhualtiah in tlamatcā tzonteyōtl quitēchīhualtiah in yōlcocōleh tzonteyōtl.
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
😉👍🏼
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 5d
Revolutionary Nahuatl for October 6, 2025.

Inihqueh in quitēcāhualtia in tlamatcā tzonteyōtl quitēchīhualtia in yōlcocōleh tzonteyōtl.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

—JFK
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 6d
😁🤘🏼
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 6d
Or even just transcribing them in English, yikes!

I actually did two Spanish "covers" of Cocteau Twins songs, using the snatched of intelligible words to craft translations that preserved the "feel" of the tracks (from my perspective).
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 6d
Dayum, that's a ton of [undoubtedly highly engaging] story! :D
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 6d
Thanks! :D
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davidbowles.us
David Bowles @davidbowles.us · 6d
My son-in-law Jesse Navarro (a ridiculously talented musician) has been working with me on a version of the Oaxacan folk song "La Llorona," which I've also translated into Nahuatl.

Here's a quick write-up of what we've done so far, including the lyrics. Performance video forthcoming! :D
“La Llorona” in Nahuatl
My son-in-law Jesse Navarro and I have been working on a version of the traditional Oaxacan folk song “La Llorona.” Though its popularity…
davidbowles.medium.com
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