July Senryū 2015

for the sweet circle of life


calabash of life | whisper your secrets in breath | of birth and of death

Clover turns over | summersaults in her belly | she’s getting ready

your son grows tired | of you moving on | without saying goodbye

now you dwell mainly there | just one foot in this world | here people wait

she is in between | worlds that call to her to wait | the seen and unseen

be-at-ti-tude | supremely blessed is she | with every heart-beat

in complex shedding | of bird's finery we see | the simplicity

he won't let her go | no matter how hard she tries | to pull away

citrus and terracotta | jasmine stars explode | their scent's earth and sky

she is still here | sometimes she opens her eyes | as if she’s only slept |
not in that way when one’s self | travels to the unseen

the nature of things | being in the moment | a dance between raindrops

preparing to live | parents make nests for their egg | swollen with pride

moving through the aperture | of life and death | a love labor

union in sound | drum voices thunder singers | spiral in motion

pastel skies that pass | days fly by fast flapping wings | as time moves on

sensuous pieces | that fit together | an elaborate puzzle

an almost baby | sleeps dreams and swims inside her | she prays for the best |
all life has to offer | a blue child being born green

madrugada calls | sleep talk she thinks is a dream | it's him from afar

new moon intentions | a wish and invocation | your heart's desires

sun breaks through to find | brain fog that refuses to | burn off

baby overwhelm | a child trying to raise one | young woman alone

silly assumptions | about appearances | a game of all wrong

Clover dreams color | sees the world through mother’s eyes | visions the future

his mom's on her journey | he saw E on the corner | dressed in red and black |
sharp and dapper lookin' | all pied piperish | but he don't want her to go |
not even with E | who's showin' the road | no she was the first woman |
who ever loved him | though like BB say | she could be jivin' too

niño Fidencio | de agave espadín | medicina viva

the last was the first | on his mind he closed/opened | listened with his heart

watery spirit | now you see there now you don't | moving between worlds

a molehill sometimes | a mountain to be climbed | feelings magnified

another run | a chance at a different life | beginning again

Bree because you're free | you climb and tear down their hate | decry their limp rag |
symbol of supremacy | of cowards that have no hearts



Poems copyright © 2015 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. All Rights Reserved.

June Senryū 2015

for another summer of love


when the moon is full | then we will go fishing in | love’s silvery pond

spiral movement | on a long path from ego | to enlightenment

a sure kind of death | to bludgeon a child’s spirit | snuff out their light

helichrysum oil | for sealing new scars | a blessing on a cracked head

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

in a dark forest | shadows sigh to light the night | fireflies glitter

summer lightening strike | thunder beings not talking | spark a wildfire

let's tear them all down | useless pieces of colored cloth | soiled in hate and fear

they cut down mountains | damn up clear flowing streams | poison all the air | we mourn the mounting deaths | pray for a better future

sharp shards of glass | shimmery in moon’s glimmer | alley diamonds

spirit of iron | divides a river in two | feeds on firewood | fights against injustices | protects with a blood oath

full moon seppuku | chance meet in a body jump | pot meets the kettle

soars over treetops | circles front of her window | waves her a blessing

she sleeps protected | with leaves of trees shading her | journeys in seconds

the whole world’s tilted | fate brought them together then | again they collide

grandmother runes speak | points of light illuminate | from sparkling star sand

sometimes you get it | right the first time | it defines your whole life |
gets you strength and independence | then you're alone for life

another day missing | you loving me | your voice saying it's alright

how can words describe | the deep in my chest | you who are the beat of me

she cannot just want | every one a destiny | what can not be had

the moon a sliver | lends its light to the stars | a moonlit slide

imminent storm | clouds gather to discuss it | sky waits expectant

she is whirlwind | stirs it up into the air | sees what will land standing

cracked her egg | they put her back together | humpty dumpty style

he her first and last | the kind of love that surpasses | all time and space

he stopped looking | when he found her there she was | for all the others

to free ourselves | our bond must be broken | to be forged in love

our long memories | a love so familiar | easy like summer

wobbly hatchlings | all wide eyed and hungry mouthed | lemon-yellow fuzz

let's gather ripening fruit | under the rose | our strawberry moon


poems copyright © 2015 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.
All Rights Reserved.

May Senryū 2015

for peace on this beautiful planet


relationships | we land on this blue planet | covered in sweet mother

always has new hats | always with the this and that | but can’t pay the rent

cooling heals the head | dreams a slash of blue lake | wakes up refreshed

with the sunrise | smile it's a new day | on the edge of yesterday

believes in future | wraps herself around the past | stays in the moment

how can one break | their own heart by being | in love with love

there would be blood | she always feared bullets | then a deafening quiet

so much love her heart | hurts as though compressed in his | fist clenched

partly disheveled | then skin muscle bone | but no sinew can hold them | no matter the pretty words | no matter night shivering

when those we love | disappear without a word | there's no explanation | then we blame ourselves for all | we might've done differently

complete sadness | is the passing of parents | to that other place | where we can only feel them | wish them light and progress

he wants to be sure | she knows who's the boss of whom | believes in free will

from this far away | I send you blessings and love | sana sana dear

a struggle for the land | a fight for our survival | earth must prevail

apart they do not shine | there is no fire | sometimes there's no hope

want to ring some necks | can't pinpoint exactly why | you got the feelin'

time for a chill pill | or a bottle of bourbon | she opts for yoga

ghost ranch belly dance | lay down color fields dry wheat | layers upon sound

iron eyes don't see | in their bellies carry us | feel their way down tracks

she must embrace it | Mercury's insistency | roll with the punches

if he were a bar | he'd be aqui me quedo | she would never leave

brown hands in red earth | a firm mother connection | one to another

everyday mothers | their days long for their children | even when they're grown ✿

winding roads take us | back to a past now future | of soul and spirit

you can love so much | where does all that love come from | a wish or prayer

a wee girl smiling | her entire life a dream | loved beyond belief | the way girls should be loved | by great mothers and fathers

imprecise magic | of defying gravity | no fear of falling

loneliness demon | hides in the blackout curtains | is uncertainty | let the light of this fine day | banish all the sad worry

pavement surfers | skateboarders soar like eagles | skilled to land on feet

full-flower moon | ready to bloom Spring showers | our mother of pearl

Black lives do matter | stop racial profiling | end all war for peace


Copyright © 2015 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.
All Rights Reserved.

photo Copyright © 2009 Derek Owens.
All Rights Reserved.

March Senryū 2015

for belief in love even when it's imperfect 


old as mountains | their love across the ages | steady as beats of hearts

traveling with wings | fueled by waking-dream voices | on prayers and hope

sometimes dreams wiser | than waking up to the pain | of this everyday

seawater escapes | the beaches of her ocean | eyes and round her cheeks

blocking the flow | don't want you but won't let you go | time to say so long

ancient bones heavy | in the living my-story | that walk strong in him

the star he gave her | the fifth planet from the sun | brightest in the sky | left of the tympani moon | so she'll never forget him

she will never raise | theirs who was sacrificed | a story not hers | to fashion in this lifetime | spirit tossed back to heaven

imagine-nation | a world without war and hate | dream it so

the day she was born | they planted one hundred trees | to flower into love

she made him feel | crazy and tender in ways | he’d not felt ever

we all have vicious |  it can snap and hurt someone | a small part of us

she feels heavy weight | stuck in a sadness deep place | where slow magma seeps | fills up all vacant spaces | all the path with shouts and wails

people like to talk | her name tastes good on their lips | tongues sharp as razors

we bring our hearts' strings | and all the tenderest parts | to your feet to be blessed

days that mark the end | times we thought would never | may we remember | original instructions | given to our peoples

you go on dreaming | despite all obstacles | wake up to your truth

right at dawn | when the air smells newly born | women sing children awake

poets of heart | tell truths that are lies only to | dream a new future

she is but a dream | breezes through your life from time | and like Spring thunderstorms | on occasions upsets | best just embrace gifts given

drive by King's Ranch | reminds how much was taken | a world that belonged | to itself free and alive | before towns and cities cloned

flying I go | flying I return | for as long as there are wings ✿

darkmoon woman | gifts invisibility | to the shape shifters | who know that time is nearer | than anyone ever thought

when we least expect | there is a way that our hope | can move obstacles | our activism makes change | our love changes us for better

nine months while she gestated her | she ate sardines | wee one was born fish | daughter of deepest ocean | blue child come to change the world

she learned the seed songs | sang these life-vine prayers | we are green shoots born | connected to the mother | her brown hands deep in red earth

shadows rise up | they dance around at the sound | of your sweet sweet voice

cawing of crows moon | signals the end of winter | o'er snow covered nests

his thick skin on hers | as if they were one | as if it were yesterday |
to hold them together | forever in a life grip

waxy moon lost | in fog-out gray flannel night | for hibernation

you go back home | to that place that still holds you | in that red womb that birthed all | place of mesquite's outstretched arms | forever you blue bonnets

trees speak quietly | they channel loved ones voices | whispers in the breeze

poems © 2015 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.

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

Xoxoctli ~ Little Green

for RL

verde como nosotros
when we met in that
long ago yoliztli
cuando éramos
tiernos como el maíz
verde as our love we thought
would last siempre
but forever is a long time
y los verdecitos no saben
nada del tiempo ni como
se mueve mas rápido
the older people get
pero un yolotli no se olvida
el teteyollocuicatl de su amante
a heart that flowers

xoxoctli
in yuh (así como) tu y yo
cuando creíamos que éramos
todo lo necesario
to live a life in love
and together always
y lo vivimos así hasta que no
you went your path y yo el mio
but always you had temactli
ipan no (poder sobre mi) and
I was only safe
when I didn’t know
where tu corazón latía
couldn’t feel it calling me
from so far away
now I hear it
dondequiera que voy
lo oigo
y me persigue
me llama
tú, corazón
your heart

Copyright © 2014 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.
All Rights Reserved.

Notes on the Nahuatl words ~

teteyollocuicatl: heart beat
yoliztli: life
yolotli: heart
xoxoctli: little green