March Senryū 2017

for embracing new life with all its challenges

in one-hundred words | she writes him a love poem | an hasta luego
| maybe another forty | to say aloha again

dancing mid-street | not acting any age | trying to wake up 

unheard voices | speak to us in images | herstory muses

not an afterthought | who you think of while pruning | all of your roses

lonely people | in Japan they rent out cats | here spend days on-line

then she walked loveblind | into a new life chapter | it was much later
| she discovered his role | trivial to her story

an eclipse of light | you stand in the door | occulting the sun

dragons and snakes | soaring / seeking perspective | opposites attract

we won't say your name | you will forever be | just number 45

crow hitches a ride | posing as hood ornament | old time GPS

morning's afterbirth | rainbow rings around the sun | ice crystals bent light

she felt the bones break | before she ever got beat | she got so tired
| of a life dodging violence | before she could escape

trouble... the water | that needs healing like we do | pray for the answers
| sing the water whole again | if we believe we can

we don't grow old | our bodies wear and tear | there's no replacement parts

blood ties not always | as strong as those bonds we form | friends as familia

lugar mágico | donde fui concebida | entre mezquite
| y nopal brotando | flores de sol y sangre

World Poetry Day | let's all put down our weapons | unite in the word
| in flower and song offered | for peace and love to prevail

Spring is in motion | US climate glacial ice | waiting for the thaw

she cannot die | a person who creates | she was never born
| she transcends time and space | becoming and existence

what was hidden | heart in the present moment | brought into being

defrag your mind | fill in those gaps caused by hate | recall slows us down

easy amnesia | another word for denial | erase blasted pasts
| pretend we were all saints | we had no help sinning

can't lose everything | if you give it all away | sit in stillness

before time or space | lived dark where ego is killed | swirls unseen forces

her everyday eats | poems to calm a torment | non-monotonous

gap-toothed pain while ailing | from alien greed | craters in the head

a gypsy poet | with no birthplace monument | born on the road

a force to embrace | women who carry water | who know how to pray

you can pretend | you don't love me anymore | I know the truth

heading west for home | a piece of my heart lives there | on Pacific's shore
| a door to a future-past | one that will always last

rain is falling | in the garden plants lift heads | give thanks to the frogs

Copyright © 2017 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. All Rights Reserved.

March Senryū 2016

"Crows in the Hood" by Comrade Foot. Creative Commons.

for the ability to live up to challenges

we visit you here | in this place we can't fathom | with beautiful flowers

grand love

fathers \ daughters.

some, almost perfect, no?

there are those who could tell you truths --

to shame.

when you're proud to know | the boy you raised who grew wise | way beyond his years

that kiss was kismet | some past life holdover | now to get over it

wild blackbird warning | then car's back door flies open | wallet on the ground | 

Good Samaritan noticed | comes to your rescue saves day

old Havana | has her secrets hidden deep | in layers of paint

mysticwoman | she who sees beyond eyes | who hears the longtime voices

there are don't ride trains | ones that are going down wrong | sidetracked forever

the eyes have it | true windows to the heart/soul | what do yours say

she works in the dark | hands need no light to create | smooth and soothe the lines

people block the hate | with their bodies and prayers | close down the clown's cars |

until the streets can be safe | once more from this war on us

ancestral knowledge | sure as sunshine and moon rise | we are all welcomed

my dream peeps | are keepers and are not me | have their own lives to live

in shackles and chained | no respect for human beings | illegal they're not

kindness of strangers | takes you by the arm | welcomes you like family

sad for that hurt feeling | don't know why people hate | ocean bottom deep

in the morning | she will give thanks for being | for one more day |

to become a better human | to pray for health and kindness

tongues for justice | will never be silenced | from ashes rises fire

we geography | the maps and myths of our lives | places and people

beauty of the blush | of new flower bud just born | of sacred promise

new flood warnings | morning woke late and foggy | turned off her alarm

thunder beings roar | gulf waters jump up the shore | downpour on the brink 

going inward | to reflect on no reflection | mirror the darkness |

seeking out those specks of stars | your love that's become so small

hair clip

on the sidewalk~

rusty as the years long,

held up some beautiful tresses

back when.

so we dis-agree | about presidents and such | aren't we family |

we're not that divided | we both want peace and justice

land where you were made | where ancestors lived and died | a full life circle |

you piece together the songs | the wrongs no longer matter

a book is a world | enter its doors and go | journeying the unknown

the mother in her | makes them feel comfortable | is what makes them talk |

they open up like windows | on a bright sunny day

so much love is soup | simmered steamy with good will | veggies and chicken

hunger food for thought | and a quiet place in woods | where the raven calls

denial does no good | in friendship one must see | their own shortcomings

Copyright © 2016 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.  All Rights Reserved.

January and February Senryū 2016

Super Moon, July 12, 2014, courtesy Marie-Marthe Gagnon, Flickr Creative Commons.

February

for staying in the present todays, and for those sweet yesterdays that will never come again

lazy day Sunday | breakfast with a new friend | end and beginning

cool evening | sleeps and wakes a windy day | with gulf waves raging 

descarrilado | en medio de su mundo | tiniebla duro

derailed | in the middle of his world | hard darkness

torrential rains one minute | then hot sun barking | loudly on the street 

full snow moon | this is not June it’s winter | the false Spring’s singing | 

songs of fireflies and ladybugs | it’s certainly not summer 

full hunger moon | a desire for flowers | ready to spread wings

what you could have had | but decided to pass up | took love for granted 

you know what’s missing | are torn apart by grief | can’t figure out why 

a warriors heart | bigger than their whole body | often full of ache | 

the force of convictions | motivated by deep love

your good face forward | there’s no place for grief | so lead with a smile | 

think of your tears as wings | that fly over the gulf searching 

your big sun smile | loves every minute of joy | this work has brought | 

and Spring’s wanting to be sprung | you in every flower

love not a one day affair | it’s three-hundred-sixty five | twenty-four-seven |  

like you crave sun in winter | cool water in the spring

you are a love | from time before time mattered | you will always be 

we are witnesses | to the injustice | world of greed and hate 

you’ve become a saint | a prophet to remember | your teachings humble

there are trees that speak | skin’s related to bark | you listen content | 

always knew they are relatives | guarding you since you were young

his skin on yours silk | your young bodies seamless | no begin or end just two

you are everywhere | in every living being | it does my heart good 

of ghosts and spirits | we dream each other’s stories | that ignore borders 

imagining | a better world to leave | for future

when all the stars stared | down to find you in the midst | there you were in trees | 

a wind song kissing leaves | you always wanting verde 

story of her life | the best ones choose others | her picker broken

she is leaking grief | leaving its blue trickle trail | everywhere she goes 

the road gives you time | to know you are from there | home is where you are

she shakes her head | knowing it’s not really true | you have not gone on

they hang out their shingle | sell pretty new age snake oil | so buyer beware 

only her medicine | words that can’t be spoken | but sung aloud | 

can save her from sadness | that place of despair 

speak in fiery tongues | from our mouths encantations | fly forth in love 

you here in the wind | in the trees where black birds sleep | in the deepest song

January 

when you love without | an agenda about you | thinking you are it

dark misty coastline | driving rain and loving it | missing the unseen

those who make medicine | with their good words no lies | with their good hearts

the imposters masks | shall be ripped from their faces | take no places | 

that do not belong to you | your lies become the crows call

we try to understand | what can never be | how to move on

with the snow moon full | you say your final goodbyes | fly into the light

rest in peace | sweetest Rose of the valley | mother to so many

worn out your machine | called a body a temple | and you want to dream

beyond borders | you fly home to ancestors | who wait with open arms

hermano mio | fly home to the ancestors | to their resplendent arms | 

In Xochitl In Cuicatl

we worry in vain | about much we can't control | better to have glee

it's a new year | a chance at beginnings | give thanks every day

Copyright © 2016 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.  All Rights Reserved.

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.

April Senryū 2015

for the promise of Spring

another Texas | morning that wakes in mystery | not knowing which way | the wind or politricks | will blow this bright - sunny day

salty ocean tears | her heart breaks so easily | never can she stop | loving those she was born to | their souls are braided to hers

what to do in answer | to the blind-eyed deaf mute world | for murdered children | ignored as disposables | who don't matter as much

on the far side in | familiar but divergent | time zone importance

she will always be | the love of his life | but not the life of his love | wanting other things | they went their separate ways

so far is too far | your voice over texts | a kind of torture

wildseeds sewn in wind | carries them off on wings | oh the things they bloom

a smile slice of moon | looks sad when you look at it | turned downward

she is the wind | belongs to herself no one else | she chooses freedom

the pacific light | illuminates pure darkness | poetry and love

she desires him | the way thirst wants water | a desert mirage

when we're older | no longer resemble | selves we see in the mirror

she hides everything | a long ago you can't hurt | steel can take its licks

her constant want | to live another fifty years | in his able arms | to feel his breath on her cheek | to listen to him sleep

yes she knows his soft | tender underbelly | a strong man always | intent on being aloof | never admitting he’s down

with his hands he can | soften her up like red clay | between his fingers

he didn’t comprehend | her wings were crushed so early | her only option was run | not into his arms gone far | distance

in her pie safe | she keeps secret recipes | to love herself

knows how she feels | even when months turned to years | it’s always been him

sometimes those who love | you must leave | you must find peace

calls him to her | alluring perfume | scent of a woman

what he did | didn’t replace those feelings | of love that won’t die

the long road to love | though detoured from the path | of a destiny

though often predictable | the future’s a puzzle | missing pieces

sends you peace | blessings and love | and prays for your ease

inward swan dive | her reach in line with her grasp | not still framed or frozen | she keeps moving to live | keeps living her dreams

they want us afraid | believing only their truths | telling only lies

sprouting grass moon | spring’s an eternal smile | when winter’s a memory

she always lives on | the sharp edge of desire | no fear of too much

even torn and ragged | lives can be darned into beauty | all lives matter

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


poems copyright © 2015 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.
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.

February Senryū 2015

for being able to not only see, but to believe in the truth

✿

she worries he’ll fly | so fast his wings won’t carry | the weight of the past | but one can only live | the life they are assigned

family blood ties | land wind and trees that witnessed | births of our ancestors | whose hearts are buried here | deep down in this rich brown earth

we write our lives | in lines across years | on paper we set our sails

they wake from flying | poems that come through day dreams | then birth themselves whole

there’s nothing sexy | about trains going off rails | but clouds making rain | is natural as babies | being born blessed this morning

earth’s survival | is not dependent on us | our survival

love is a whole world | immense feelings filled with hope | of tremendous joy

a bright bud | of a new Rose bloomed | born brilliant

the way they fit | pieces of this puzzle lost | fine tuned enigma | put back together again | if she’s wrong just let her go

today’s road is peace | birds soar in the vast sky | on path partying

these ashes cross me | symbol ofa life’s circle | ever returning

yo canto rio | tu estas dentro | del agua yo grito amor | te quiero mas qu’el agua | que corre por mis venas

aún te quiero | despues de todo amor | siempre es siempre

she wants only love | pure simple and willing love | not convenience

she’s always prepared | with contingency plans | to win or lose

there’s no Valentine | but my heart is secure | Love is everywhere

hormonal blues | the do’s and don’ts of aging | how old are you

tremendous joy | followed by hollow sadness | of life’s ups and downs

contemplating | Spring and cleaning out clutter | the consequences

she got tired of being | a poem on lips of people | who did not know her

what do trees tell me | about life they’ve lived so long | standing ones so wise

our grapes deep purple | staring out from the clear cup | warming up the dark

a day of new beginnings | hatched in candle light | as winter lingers

you are the poem | not the words that fly from her | a brilliant starlight

there’s never a way | to undo past mistakes | just forgive yourself

troubled turbulence | she’s humbled in its belly | iron bird travels

plump with promise | of healing inner demons | full moon rises proud

bone moon rising | while winter beats at the door | sip the marrow soup

poems and photo copyright © 2015 Odilia Galván Rodríguez.

All Rights Reserved.

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.

December Senryū 2013

December Senryū  2013

there are no borders | for butterflies know freedom | ignore barriers

a better world | possible with faith and love | struggle for freedom

you who brought laughter | your leaving left tears | will always be remembered

creativity | bring beauty into the world | for the joy of all

a sense of purpose | caring for more than ourselves | for the greater good

support our own | vendors and businesses | cooperate to win

responsibility | for self and community | collective love

from the whispering basket | spirit-saints whispered | truths from the other side

listen to your heart | think with your own mind | for self-determination

in unity | we are stronger than enemies | we hold together

she believes in angels | that show themselves in many | forms of love

winter's day and sun | stands still waiting to reverse | in its celestial tracks

the place of lost voice | memories claw at her throat | tears form a knot there

ancient sea stars melt | into oceans on fire | we bury our heads

if we save the earth | we save ourselves and future | generations

I remember | my first love a smiling man | tender as a sapling

my love north wind | leans on me to show love | unruly and tussled

Butterfly Virgin | you patron saint of dreamers | who fly for freedom

US adores zombies | vampires their obsession too | those living dead

icy cold whispers | winter sweeps in through the house | on a sunny day

she dreams in all blues | frozen mid-sleep wishing | for early Spring

nights have grown endless | she only sleeps during days | napping at the edge

all mother's souls | melt into their children's  | growing into their own |
persons full and realized | pass love along in their blood

arctic cold fingers | grip the Bay in its grey fists | refuse to let go

a rock of a man | always loved more than hated | beacon for freedom

I give thanks for grief, which teaches me gratitude for life, and always for love...

the day born gray skies | sun elbowed its way out | smiling in triumph

grey fog stretches | arms around hills I live on | today sun sleeps in

petals fall to earth | they turn into fragrant clay | sweet-scented our cups

crows no longer caw | warnings about her at you | now that she's at peace

winter the inward | time of introspection | reflection on life’s pond

Copyright © 2013 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. All Rights Reserved.

November Senryū ~ 2013

November Senryū

 2013

mizquitl tree | her place to sit | write letters to the future

this morning I wake | hearing jazz from your last room | know you are here

cuando dice un beso | siento miles | por todo el cuerpo

for survival | The People danced | all evil away

untangle this mess | we've made of Turtle Island | for children’s future

dance the balance | dance back clouds and rain |dance dance dance

we pray for the world | we are tiny bits of light | in the mother's web | 

born powerful in word | our deeds should be for right 

Georgia we miss you | secret smiles tucked in brush strokes | what a legacy

though innocent | our babies learn early | they are presumed guilty

sometimes praying | for loss of ones who've not loved | enough to deserve us

frosty autumn moon | full winter forecast | icy wind her companion

crows calling warnings | telling cars to quiet down | listen to the wind | 

they say on the avenue | we so need to free ourselves

we traded places | you love my Great Lake city | I fell for the Bay

in the thickest rind of night | when moon-void-of-course | sky a thick inky soup | 

she dances in the dark | wanting loved ones to return

a bigger purpose | our lives a journey to live | leave a legacy

your mighty voices | the sea's roar crying out | for all those now silenced 

they void green worlds |turn them sacrifice zones | non-places where rivers burn

sand paper scorched | heart bleeding for a sure loss | mind guilty of hope

we are born and sprout | grow into lanky wild weeds | then one day we go | 

with luck we sent out shoots | that bloomed brilliant as the stars

mornings I hear her | voice muffled through glass calling | I'm still here on the path | 

of a destiny foretold | zigzagging trouble

mother tree a legacy | elders passing life |to the next of kin 

death leaves a hole | we try to fill with living | and love an answer

misunderstanding | heartache wanting to be healed | when words aren't enough

smooth wooden boxes | relics from days before | cardboard became home

she is from this place | her blood mixed with rainwater | red earth in her skin

puny in comparison | to that which rises | a natural son | 

or stardust and light daughters | not needful of false fingers

she flies away | always returns home | to her city by the bay

our ancestors die | pass away into the light | in time we follow

Copyright © 2013 Odilia Galván Rodríguez. All Rights Reserved.