Tuesday, July 31, 2012

June Senryū ~ 2012


thoughts rushing rivers | illusive as butterflies | defy capture


words simmer under | suffering in silence | while waiting to heal


those distant cousins | stars that beam down through night clouds | telling us they're home


when money is speech | poor people must raise their voices | to be heard


she forgets | everything that just happened | all is forgotten


my father you're loved | no time or space changes heart's | mind over matters ♥


so shifty shadowed | luck a trick of light | it's all in the perception


mixture of light | rain seeds and earth birthing | new life possibilities


water is a jewel | when it is all gone | when the faucets have gone dry | 


we panic in its absence | scurrying like little ants


love your life | give thanks for all that blesses you | even the smallest gifts


her iceberg heart thawed | to lakes icy cold and blue | edged in lupine


her hands made of stars | her smile brightest sunshine | her skirt swaying tides


water lifeblood of the people | birthright of earth's children


to dissolve past hurts | a thousand hugs and much love | the will to let go


a thin line of red | peaks out from behind the clouds | births this day's sunrise


my mother's face | in the mirror amazes | me gazing at her


oh rose moon | a time for picking strawberries | fine like red wine



© Odilia Galván Rodríguez




























¡Ban This!


¡Ban This!

disgust
lurks in corners
of your mouths when you look
at our children who you don’t want
to grow

to grow
into people
strong in their soul’s searching ~
for those truths you twist into lies
our strength

our strength
is in knowing
that we were not born yours
to do with us as you will, no
we’re free

we’re free
we, descendants
of Teotihuacán ~
of Toltecs, of Chichén Itzá,
Aztlán

Aztlán
the place you fear
we might want to reclaim ~
our ancestral home, occupied
by you

by you
who erase truths
that can not be silenced
by boxing up or burning books ~
words live

words live
we remember
them, our love, our stories ~
history, cannot be erased
not banned

not banned
because their life,
their truths and beauty beat
brightly in our yoyolo, hearts
always

always ~
we a people
of hope and of struggle
we never give up, being us
living

living.
So ban our books
put out a gag order ~
yes, they charred our codices in
fire

fire
burned our tongues mute
but never our minds ~ to
envision the future, your fall
from grace

© Odilia Galván Rodríguez






















This poem appears in ¡Ban This! The BSP Anthology of Xican@ Literature 
(Broken Sword Publication LLC 2012) edited by Santino Rivera. Tlazo!


Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Becoming Visible




Becoming Visible

Odilia Galván Rodríguez



no longer invisible
you wish to banish us
back in time

to our quiet place
stooped in fields
in your gardens

kitchens loud
clattered and steam filled
laundry rooms 

quietly nurturing 
you and yours like our own
children

lucky if left with family
less so if latchkeyed 
lonely and locked in

scared to make a sound
lest neighbors call
authorities

living in fear
of offending 
of being visible

time and struggle
changed that game
people learned their rights 

to fight for what is just
to come out into the light

c/s