November Senryū

November Senryū

For the ancestors, whose shoulders we stand on ~

and for TM

what minds refuse | hearts can feel in their tendrils | and strive to reach for | 

that elusive connection | some call love and others doubt

a day to say no | to the buy buy buying | of things that don't matter

thanks for earth's bounty | in our lives grateful for all | she gives and takes

winter fires kindled | for nights long and cold | hold me in your arms of hearth

flying south for winter | she arrives with crescent moon | in jet night sky

he is but a youth | in the body of a man | she once loved on fire

nothing is promised | each moment a gift | a life must be lived fully

give me your heart | hold in it your palms | as if it were yours to give

you fear the risk of losing | but do not lose for fear | love fearlessly

you'll never be far | your heart's echo-steady beat | learned in the waters |

of your mother's loving womb | that cradled your journey here

fly into the arms | of your ancestors who wait | with abounding joy |

to hold you in that sparkling | place we all return too soon

give thanks every day | for each breath and each step | for our earth mother

she dreams you as twins | one loves the other aloof | and still she's alone

tulley fog blankets | the valley wrapped in cotton | batting for fruit trees

he is a nice day | a face that brightens shadows | all sunshine and smiles

we've all had our losses | can feel those of others | learn how to let go

she no longer sleeps | with fairy tales tucked under | her pillow sprouts wings

she has too many rules | keeps her in balance | then he comes along |

smashes through those walls of hers | says life is change go with it

for all those voices silenced | we shall continue | to call for justice

all children matter | all life is precious | no one is disposable

disappeared  youths | sacrificed for telling truths | your spirits still live |

we shall never forget you |  our hearts demand your return 

powerful women | voices often muted | in the bustle of life | 

the washing of clothes and floors | in the factories and fields

in our impatience | we forget old lessons learned | love becomes struggle

frost moon mirror | of winter waiting on wings | to blanket us in white

everyday flowers | bring color and light | to the shadowed just beyond

Frosty Moon pregnant | with promise of rain and cold | on the horizon

you vote your conscience | put your hope in a system | in need of repair

still high on spirits | sugary as November | moon's calabaza smile

Día De Muertos | our day of honoring | our ancestors |

who in our hearts never die | who are always there waiting

sky opened up | spilled out its precious liquid | blessed the town with rain

poems and photo copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.

October Senryū

October Senryū

  for all death that comes dancing

✿⊱╮

los muertos no se van | siempre son nuestros | vivos en corazones | 

en historias y cuentos | viven en los poemas de vida

Dia De Muertos | no es el Halloween | un día de ancestros

your voice travels through | I hear your don't forget me | this now without you

when she lives in her head | instead of her heart | that is when fear appears

coyote crossed her path | on a walk down the hills | breakfast in his mouth

bleeding lies to justify | their untruths and hate | what permeates here

blood as in hunters moon | as in ebb-flow | as in tides of desire

golden petals bright | guide their spirits in the night | a feast for the eyes

revolution | is not selfies of you | objectifying |

yourself and therefore all | womankind

testing truth in lies | the way you think words matter | and they do sister | 

they do if they’re authentic | if they help us all to rise… rise

Fall leaves scatter | a divine artist’s palette | ambrosia in color

life becomes cloudy | living in a bottle | with no way out

self medicates | to keep away the raw | everyday feelings brought on | 

by time-machine living | when things never change

save your country | where your ancestors hearts are | 

buried inred earth | aching to be free from hate

disbelieve borders | trying to tell you your worth | fly over the moon

we may well show you | a side you’d never know | otherwise

elixir of life | TV’s false fountains (of youth) | it could simply be a smile

racism kills | it hurts all us humans | keeps us divided |

divisions are devices | meant to keep hearts apart

Pintura : Palabra

palaver : platica

a talk between tribespeople

what artists : writers hear

with eyes and

respond with their hearts

they will pray the rain | they will sing and dance the rain | they will beg the rain | 

and when earth is respected | again the rain will come down

the way we witness | world events responding | with poetry

she won't obambulate no | today is to rest | contemplate the sky

in different orbits | a knot that can't be undone | a tie that binds us

minutos cuentan | y el tiempo semece | en una silla |

cuando uno espera | vivir para siempre

minutes count | and time rocks | in a chair |

when one expects | to live forever

when you are hurt so am I | this the nature of things | love and family

she refuses to live | on timetables that sigh | those empty head shakes

celestial fireworks | star showers zip across skies | happiness to behold

she sketches him | only memories to guide | blue in light's shadow

there is no instant  |replay on the children | we lose to hate

blood moon rising | eclipses truths in shadows | light always surfaces

Poems copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.

September Senryū 2014

September Senryū

 for re-unions of hope 

✿⊱╮

at a loss for words | my tongue was cut out | I dream in my mothers' tongues

coyote dreams | sirens in crescent moonlight | prairie’s promises

upside down science | creates destruction | instead of saving life

sea of sunflowers | seeing with the Mothers' heart | a thousand suns

portrait of a heart | on fire from a full life | of eternal love

laguna verde-azul | pequeño océano | color de cielo puro |
para los que sueñan mar | los que aman madre agua

dried copper colored | cornfields in the turning sun | Fall has arrived

first time sailboat | sea legs wobbly but hold on | majestic Lake Michigan

memories illusive | as butterflies' wings | on a cloudy morning

here full-throated trains | shake sleepy neighborhoods awake | stop their dreaming

colibri | medicine for what ails you | can heal a broken heart

before the fall | came start and stumble | came where do I go from here

his breath next to hers | breathing both into dreams | of years that didn't exist |
that never did and will not | only in another dream

a last stand of trees | knowing all too well the end | is nearer than thought |
before people didn't think | there'd ever be an end

conqueror’s children | will be awoken from sleep | and returned home |
it's just a matter of time | before their kind's obsolete

 in the place she grew | to know borders exist | even invisible 

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ The big drought of 2014
┊ ┊ 
┊ ┊ ┊ 
┊ ┊ 
┊
despite drip drip drip ┊ the crops know to go to seed ┊ 
 there's a frightening drought ┊

and irrigation's not rain ┊ 
 plant's roots touch earth's source ┊┊┊ ┊┊┊┊┊ ┊┊┊┊┊┊┊ ┊┊
┊┊┊┊┊┊┊ SHE telegraphs - no rain ┊ on the dry horizon ┊
 better to prepare ┊
 for more water scarcity ┊ frogs must sing storms back our way ┊┊┊ ┊┊┊┊┊ ┊┊┊┊┊┊┊ ┊┊
┊┊┊┊┊┊┊

a canto to the night | smoky mirror shows little | light in shadows

understands silences | soul mates not what they seem | they shapeshift in dreams

in the land of the free| people should be | allowed to be

they collect hearts | like beads on necklace | then all beat as one

they give thanks for life | in words as invocations | heart-spirit made flesh

wanting to honor | present generations | ancestors returned |
she asks please don't take spirit | with machines that shoot like guns

colibri | medicine for what ails you | can heal a broken

does her whisper in your ear | embrace all of you | charm your voice away

earthquake shifts her plates | autumn moon takes to shape shift | Napa expects more | daily they pray to the clouds | singing sacred water songs

corn moon comes to end | summer daylight starts to wane | another season

sowing redearth new | sun seeds fall from hungry mouths | say adieu summer

summer shouts I'm still here | hot as jalapeños | no time to fall yet |
with teeth bitter as winter | the greedy tear at her body

mean you love her | with something other than your voice | say it in your walk |
live it as if it matters | love is not convenience

home's a returning | swallows sing in foreign tongues | its meaning not lost |
there is a time for standing | still as a tree in winter

stopped in her tracks | her heart welling up like then | waxing nostalgic

he a slippery fish | one she could never quite hook | keeps on swimming'


copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.  All Rights Reserved.

August Senryū 2014

✿⊱╮

for love not war

his voice smooth as smoke | wafts its way around souls | engulfs her in flames

born an island girl | she needs alone time | and sunrise that smiles hello

if today she doesn't wake | she gives thanks for all | the loves of this life

sometimes dancing is a spell | or ceremony | to heal what ails you

in love with words | I am the mothers' daughter | hers only on loan

tight like teeth | only shares the necessary | smile for the truth

no power back when | they tried to take all her grace | she learned to cherish 

turnkey lockdown | heart that can only open | to the owner of the key | 

so it be | now and forever

you the greatest gift | a son to love always | proud as all mothers

they suggest beauty | as a way to combat stress | butterflies flowers |

all of it part of life | in the shadows and in grace

we put our hands up | now surrender could mean death | we are sacrificed

collateral damage | people no longer trust | in their government

weary of the war | before more horrors manifest | here at home

divorce is a death | this special person you've loved | is no longer there

don't apologize | you can't help who you love | love is a great thing

the best of life | is in the growing of it | you don't grow you go

moonbathes under satellite | super-sized shine | wishes on a star

beautiful to know | your love’s unconditional | that you're still here

let love break through | all those walls built in fear | its light will shine true

after shock | possibly fatal mishap | a near miss in slow motion

every name precious | lights blown out before their time | all of our children

seemingly sane | she goes on with life | tries not to weep at the rain |

not to hear slain voices |spirits amid the rubble

silence is complicity | next they come for you | who will speak then

forbidden love | timeless deep affection | enchanted entanglement

in her sleep she hears | bombs falling and she can't wake | people are trapped

you say I'm breaking | your heart it's not mine | while I continue to bend

blue spirit horses | brought a foretelling of peace | galloped through their dreams

it is our first drum | mother's heart that resonates | its beat into cells

love at first sight | seen through rose colored glasses | the blooms never leaves

she builds rooms with books | piled high are hopes and dreams | to be realized

hexagram heaven | what do the signs say today | listen to the wind

particles of change | miraculously give voice | to those with no tongue 

poems copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.

Life, A Dream

✿

she has no idea
about being gone
or staying still
she knows she loves
flowers in bloom
real or imagined
what is life
if not a dream
you wake from
only to enter
another one
and so on
going from dream
to dream until
one solitary day
you become part
of the unseen and
dream with those
who've gone on
those on this side
dream you too
in the warp and weft
that is life's tapestry

poem copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.
All Rights Reserved.

photo copyright © 2014 R. Loya.  All Rights Reserved.

July Senryū 2014

July Senryū 2014

for love and peace 

✿

if it were up to her | there would be no more war | no more suffering

no more obsessions | those writings about being | in love with love

she fell in love | with him at first sight | he's been her muse ever since

we belong to the land | we are her bounty | no-thing to war over

a time loop tangle | sticky as fly paper | charmed forever

she does simple things | laundry and roasting chiles | gets her mind off war |

 for awhile she doesn't think | of families being murdered

the worst of the barriers | is that of the mind | think for yourself

no real words left | to say how I feel about war | except NO MORE

The death toll rises, people are dying - genocide!

she feels him | missing her in away that hurts | both now and then

ella lo siente (a el) | extrañado la en esa manera que duele | entonces y ahora

we must not lose heart | everyday we pray and struggle | for peace

across the world | war rages and people die | all call cease fire

I love love | people think that's old fashioned | I know it's new

moon bled red | decried earth's blood shed | her children at constant war

the way of the world | cannot be heartless | we must teach our children well

simply knowing | he would do anything | for her is enough

we say no to war | not in our names do you kill | no more forever

misses the someones | who were something in her life | all deserving love

thunder moon rising | in your light we shine smiling | glad to be alive

he the blurry edge | an unrequited love | of full moons in July

personal greed | is fear based but not on need | rooted in evil

she cannot explain | rituals rote and quiet | ever changing same

she reinvents herself | at the core fire | she will not be moved

where is compassion | children must flee death squads | gone the way of true love

independence | does not rely on others | giving you freedom

independence | can not be celebrated | when people are not free

so quick to throw | women under the bus | someone else's rights

change yourself | in a flutter the world changes |just a bit

en los escombros | de su amor aprende | como amarse

verdure her love | growing lush and wide | across the world

eyes wide open | yet she dreams through her life | wishing she could love | 

that one special one | that is lost to her

with pockets full of shells | she leaves the seashore| flowers in her heart

up against thick walls | that keep hate and fear inside | that deter no-thing

she lets the nighthawks | fly away with her troubles | not obscure the moon

at the cross roads | she stands in the center |finding her way

shadow walker | between this world and the next | weaving connections

she lives with a piece of sea | deep inside her blues| maneuvers the rocks

poems copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.

Palestinian flags flutter at Israel's border with Gaza

Split This Rock: Split This Rock Call for an End to the Attacks on ...

Split This Rock: Split This Rock Call for an End to the Attacks on ...: As an organization whose very existence was born from the global Poets Against the War movement, we at Split This Rock are grieved and outr...

June Senryū 2014

✿ 

for summer and for love

one place at a time | she stands center | the place of beginnings

the yard is full | of weeds and overgrown trees | everyday tomorrow

how can you love | so many beautiful people | and still feel alone

misses her daughters | ones she never birthed | those made by blood and spirit

little white dog barks | hello goodbye don’t leave me | a familiar voice

we miss the rain’s voice | joined with winds sweet symphony | we pray your return

our city has voice | sings in tires on pavement | sirens in distance

a voice that hurts | your ears cannot hear beauty | in caterwauling

a map of dreams | thirteen moons on turtle’s back | day count twenty-eight

so vulnerable | without her padding | she seeks out protection

whales tell of water | song lines of deepest ocean | great great grandmother

webbed spidery | her skin doesn’t seem hers | not her body

the road home windy | surprising in its beauty | cherished past places

waiting to go | wishing to stay where you are | beam me over

people too quick | to judge one another | but claim to believe in peace

grow into a man | we need your strength as equals | no more little boy

journeys full circle | remembering when we were | so young in spirit

everyday challenge | walk in the ways of ancestors | survive bravely

easy to take care | of others loved and cherished | not so much ourselves

don't be downed by life | beauty is all around us | despite all the waste

listen messages | of all our relatives | sent from the beyond

in every stem and flower | every leaf of every tree

aging can be hard | you said not for the weak | I give thanks for life

voices never leave | my head is filled with wisdom | yours and ancestors

hope you're dancin' | this honey moon’s just for you | your first not here birthday

move past the fear | of embracing what you know | deep in your heart

the blood of my blood | does not yet exist | may never be

life's flow slowed down | a month that seemed like a year | healing emotions

she of earth and spice | lights one hundred candles | lends her voice for peace

her little girl songs | overflow with happiness | waterfall lyrics

total denial | is in command of the ship | she's gone off course

poems copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.

May Senryū 2014

✿

dreams don’t have borders | they soar on the wings of hope | we make destiny

only poetry | or high speech fit to say | your god-given name

offer love and light | for your beautiful spirit | will shine forever

                                                                                                    Rest in power.

support warriors | who fight with their hearts and minds | for future

poisons hide | in our water air and food | we reclaim our earth

her gray hair marks her | an elder of the people | wisdom highlights

teach in the garden | plants have so much to say | about nature ways

symbols of pride | knowing where you come from | lead you where you must go

never forget | those brave enough to stand | for future generations

converted boxcars | farmworker homes in long lines |  straight as row crops

what is a wild woman | if not one who knows | her nature is free

we have the right | to know what we put into | our bodies are our own

you don’t have | to believe in possessing | nothing posses  you

the truth is | that many don’t want to know | ignorance kills slow

the nature of things | alive on this planet | is their power

vision yourself strong | just like mountains live long | it’s not your time to go

healing ourselves | when everything says | you are getting too old |

not needed anymore | is an act ofcourage

not so strong | as standing ones that see far | our days fly swiftly by | 

we must not fear ending | it’s another beginning

we pray for all those | assailed by illness | struck down by life’s lightning 

teach compassion | to the littlest beings | they crave learning

this train carries me | back to one of my heart homes | this train...

muddy Misi-ziibi | trees imbued with voices | along the Tear Trail

what can cold rain teach | some days it's better to stay | indoors where it's warm

there's more to see | just beyond the horizon | rain gives way to sunshine

ancient seas flowed here | chiseled away life's layers | left their distinct marks

everyday love | our mother's never forget | we are sown to their souls

twilight between trees | feathery cypress sway | birds go off to sleep

roots travel deep | their feet deeply entrenched | in rich red earth

flat fertile prairies | small towns surround lands bounty | must bloom sunshine seeds

our sun is shining | somewhere on the blue planet | go there in your mind

your mind on Springtime | trees and flowers blooming | with so much beauty

all our relations | imbued with living power | the colors of life

poems copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.

March Senryū 2014

✿

still confused just talk | you want to know the facts ask | I will tell you all

regret won’t let go | like you got what you deserve | loss and confusion

find inner courage | channel it outward for change | fire burns deep down

mezcalito | habla en tu oído | susurra hondo |

tu nombre en el aire | un pájaro que vuela

cloud-walker whispers | to four winds about trances | she finds herself in |

satiable dreaming tricks her | out on the ledge once again

rainy and cold | today her smile becomes the sun | tomorrow's flowers

strong light inside | hearts that pay love forward | a beacon for rainy days

he was her country | but now she is an exile | looking for new roots

one who lost | someone they loved then found | past catches up to present

what you question | may be a good thing or not | where you go is key

moving slow slow-mo | bullets returned every gun | holstered forever | every spirit enters life | again there can be sweet peace

For Lo ॐ

your bright eyes good luck | charms a bunch of cilantro | into a pot we cook good | never forget those we love | together beautiful heart

wildblue agave | people hear your sound wisdom | in a jaguar cup

come up to my house | la casa azul so blue | without you I'm lost

does he think of her | when voices of trains call him | down those lonely tracks | or in the full light of once | upon a time a blue moon

laying down track | to forget yesterdays | going towards tomorrows

coatl querido | your beautiful shed skin | to wear with pride

arms and legs flailing | whipping up spirals of love | twist and shout

false Spring blanketed | frosty by late-winter snows | as daffodils dance

veils of other worlds | blessing us with their presence | sheer skirts of angels

magic a woman | luminescent | with boundless incantations |

her core sunk deep in the earth | from there she rises like fire

fresh day sun comes out | to play with people of earth | smiling ✿

didn't know how to act | now that they were back being | twenty at sixty

when we become hollow bones | spirit enters | makes itself at home |

we speak words of home | the place we were before here | and shall return once more

many masks worn | to slog through black/white worlds | where grey matters most

mouths of mine open | snap at ridiculousness | on how people act |

without the slightest thinking | new provocateurs

moving a house | doesn't fold in on itself | like a circus tent

in the orchard | bones percolate messages | that reaches beyond

scary how you push | people away with your past | a master at it

starry skies the eyes | of my ancestars smiling | keep watch over me

she rolls poetry | incantations into love | to help change the world

bella Havana | I miss you | hasta siempre

poems copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.