Magia

✿

magic 

a woman

luminescent

with boundless incantations

her core sunk deep in earth

from there she rises ~ fire

Copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. 

All Rights Reserved.

February Senryū 2014

✿

coal crows descended | on a mass of carrion | plantain green cornfield 

copper colored dogs | so small but fierce in their charge | stand proud and loyal

her spine a taut wire | not for sale at any cost | upright convictions

mango tree budding  | flowers fragrant and spicy  | visions of chutney

four-year-old visits | her tropical winter dreams | says it’s time to dance

released  | for lack of evidence | by the music 

the potato line | stretched the entire block | no one pulled a knife

lettuce treasure hunt  | at the agro-mercado | people cheered the chard

today shelves are bare | our money no good here | we wait on tomorrow

mice dance in cupboards | claiming them as their own home | possession 9/10ths

songs for grandmothers | gone long into the ether | flowery

today more dancing | a rumba’s on the corner | everyone shakes it

adopted country | island that lives lost in time | for a new orphan

flowering hearts | bloom love as if it were spring | solidarity

love such a small word | indescribable feelings | to birth new flowers 

wee ones eyeing | birds nest in her mango tree | fruit that’s a mirage

more potato lines | husband asks what’s the fuss | people want mashed and fried

do the angels know | you are not just visiting | we miss you

hope you’re dancing | to all those songs you loved | tango in the light

embrace your sorrow | all you truly feel | it’s yours to swim in

ritual bath | take them into river’s mouth | to be spit out clean

crowned with your name | a new life is born to live | from here to ever

drums tell truth-tales  | mid-day presentations | new initiates 

sixteen teeth thrown down | hit the mat in formation | their bitter-sweet sound

summer breezes | in mid-winter seem so wrong |  a wrap around shawl

salt and sorrow | jewels that unbind us from death | help new ghosts move on

air scented with mint | basil peppery pungent | herbs spread their magic

lattice of twigs | small dove’s palace | a delicate home

thorn trees grow to form | impenetrable fortress | the end of the world

she wakes slowly | from a tangle of sleep | in the book of life

rain blesses them | their ceremony complete | onto a new day

Copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. All Rights Reserved.

January Senryū ~ 2014

 ✿ 

scaling high borders | walls that still exist within | now break them all down

at times you live | in a thick shell you've built | without knowing

in order to live | one must dream impossible | dreams of love and life

crows still caw at her | perched in judgment on pine trees | she laughs and gives thanks | 

their warnings acknowledged | takes the wild ride anyway

beautiful maguey | its milky sap | transforms to honey |

nectar of the Gods | and four hundred rabbits

hermosa maguey | su savia lechosa | transforma en miel |

néctar de los Dioses | y cuatrocientos conejos

cold questions from our past | long gone answers telegraphed | who's listening

remembering | we did matter even then | when we thought small |

were never good enough | for the big world around us

Somos de Maíz

nací del maíz | con cada grano de mi | distinto como |

gotas de agua santa | no transgénico

born from maíz | every grain of me | unique |

like drops of scared water | not transgenic

a circle dance | life's brilliant ceremony | in a jingle-dress

what keys of memory | unlock life long mysteries | a shot in the dark

sun absorbs each sigh | troubles washed away by tides | beautiful our earth

Standing people | watchover underground creeks | they speak the same language

albino spiders | sleep sound in succulents | until morning showers

they thought if they pressed | buttons displaying their dis- | approval it stops |

but no  streets must be taken | people must lift their voices

moon illusionist | shapeshifts under cloud cover | dreams will be sweet |

tonight she will timetravel | to the other side of night

the seer sees | invisible visible | worlds that await us

stopper of time | my messenger-guide | lead me to happiness |

offer me direction | always compassionate

oracle speaks through | shiny teeth thrown down on mats | rat a tat comes truth

he studies the wind | whistling through piñon trees | colors appear | 

in the moonlight he forgets | trouble's left for tomorrow

our big clunky skates | helped us fly down summer streets | fit with the right key

her religion | guardian of all life's web | what lives relatives |

in a world so abandoned | open your heart let love shine

sometimes hope breaks apart | in heartache's boil/hiss | wishing to turn clocks | 

back to beginnings not these | endings happier 

La Calaca rides | down fogged-over streets searching | see who will join him

we live on razors | edge of highwires we balance | trying not to fall

thirteen shades of blue | your face in every hue | she prays in indigo

she time travels back | doesn't want to relive past | we'll talk tomorrow

foreign landscape | manmade volcanoes smolder | at their molten core | 

dangerous poison silent | a David and Goliath

dreams are made of life | real or imagined | an elegant time machine

daily she struggles | for positivity | grasps at life's beauty | 

in devastation's wake | never saying yes to death

in shades of violet | her spirit danced in shadows | sure of nothing

ghost town's gone down | in seeds of man's destruction | planted as progress

from a whispering basket | spirit-saints murmured | truths from the other side

first day | of this appointed New Year | another marker | 

to continue to do right | fight the goodfight for justice

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