November Senryū

November Senryū

wars so far from home | their casualties wear death masks | the truth buried deep

in fine white mist | fog creeped up the hillsides | cold, a thin blanket

words bite and strangle | a tangle of tongues turned | knots hard to untie

there is nothing black | about today, if you just stay | away from the lies

food cooked with big love | those aromas that remind | tastes that can't compare

fusion | 

color and sound | 

rounding out atmosphere | 

so dear to me the taste of new |

music

shadows gather | for winter's blanket covers | in gray rainy days

we give thanks all days | for our people's survival | that we are still here

this dream called life | no way to awaken from | a sometime nightmare

sometimes haunted | those precious given moments | indelible past

invisible ties | that bind us all together | across this planet

yearning the long road | a return home to no place | she dreams the river

a golden angel | greets the masses moving | along the boulevard

midnight mariachis | meet us upon arrival | D.F. never sleeps

bella Oaxaca | flor de las naciones | casa de todos

desire | such a weak word to describe | a famished mouth

child's shadow follows | it's sleep walking body | thinking it's awake

Oaxaca's foothills | this rich red earth's sentinels | surround the morning

poems ©Odilia Galván Rodríguez, 2011

September and October Senryū

October Senryū

beautiful and brown | nation of people who stand | proud to be alive

summer's flowers swim | in a pool of fall |  their colors ever hopeful

wind carries the taste | of sweet promise on her lips | praying steadily

millions dispossessed | plastic dreams beyond our means | sold to the highest bidder

she wants to be paid | for painting dreams on paper | folded into cranes

roots of oppression | when not acknowledged | strangle flowering struggles

Know your history - decolonize Wall Street!

because we stand | on their shoulders looking out | a new day is coming

pure white lilies | lie about their nature | having yellow hearts 

sunshine on the edge | burns off the dredged memories | mired in should'ves

the place of knowing | is oftentimes filled with doubt | about the journey

you were not a dream | flesh and blood mixed with fire | the wind blew away

Summer's melted into Fall | daylight shrinks further | shadows bring spirits

her heart a flower | opening to the sweetness | life a sacred gift

her prickly pear heart | loved you and lost | crushed margarita 

my mind tips over | into dreams and other worlds | sleep eludes morning

five miles to ride | one more day of spinning | into the purple sky

down watery streets | lights reflect their living souls | spirits scissor kick

la sirena | siren of the seven seas | underwater queen 

she’s a heart bleeding | a wounded bird since you left | one drop at a time 

la luna luna | quienes ojos consuma | con su belleza ~

the moon, moon | whose eyes does she consume | with her beauty ~

young man, old man - thee | look, look, what do you see? | people, people living ~

September Senryū

missing tomorrows | that never came and yesterdays | waiting to be born

his shattered sky | a million blue splinters | azure butterflies

golden harvest moon | pregnant abundance | wanes into the equinox

gray light is burning | off hillsides holding the Bay | we pray for better days

what minds forget | our young hearts remember | tender as new shoots

stared in disbelief | indelible images | saying, we did this

the pool of sorrow | is too deep to swim in long | burst out of the blues

counting blessings | best belief in the now | calming turbulence

Summer is Falling | humming birds fly backwards | bejeweled hearts flutter

to breathe easy | without the stress of confined | spaces and minds open

middle children | though tucked snugly in-between | sometimes the most alone

she is all of this | calm sunny days | the rain and deadly winds stirring

beautiful unions | opposites that fit like puzzle's | pieces of dreams

one never knows | the *whole* truth is slippery | but the sun shines through

poems ©Odilia Galván Rodríguez, 2011