Wednesday, March 19, 2014

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.







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