Saturday, August 29, 2015

Full Moon Over New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina

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Décimo aniversario del huracán Katrina
Tenth anniversary of the hurricane Katrina






Luna llena sobre Nuevo Orleáns
---después del huracán Katrina


Cuelga la luna llena
sobre lo que fue Nueva Orleáns,
su blancura manchada y rota
en las aguas fétidas.
Se ahogaron
los jazmines y las gardenias,
los robles y las magnolias,
las trompetas,
los saxófonos,
los tambores.
La ciudad que se soñaba vivir,
----grande y fácil,
de borgoña
----entre la piedad y el deseo,
yace bajo una mortaja de agua,
sus pecados más graves
expuestos al mundo.

La luna llena
se quiebra y se ahoga,
sucia en las aguas fétidas.





-----------------© Rafael Jesús González 2015


(Words Upon the Waters, Brundage, Karla, Ed.,
San Francisco (Jukebox Press) 2006; author's copyrights)



Escrito para la primera luna llena después de que el huracán Katrina devastó Nueva Orleáns hace diez años revelando las terribles fuerzas de la Tierra dañada y sacando a la luz la profunda enfermedad social en el alma de la nación.
 







                           

Full Moon Over New Orleans
----After Hurricane Katrina


The full moon hangs
over what was New Orleans,
its whiteness stained & broken
on the fetid waters.
Drowned are
the jasmine & the gardenias,
the oaks & the magnolias,
the trumpets,
the saxophones,
the drums.
The city that dreamt itself living,
-----big & easy,
on Burgundy
----between piety & desire,
lies under a watery shroud,
its most grievous sins
exposed to the world.

The full moon
breaks & drowns,
dirty in the fetid waters.





---------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2015



(Words Upon the Waters, Brundage, Karla, Ed.,
San Francisco (Jukebox Press) 2006;
derechos reservados del author)



Written for the first full moon after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans ten years ago revealing the terrible powers of an Earth abused and laying bare a deep social illness in the soul of the nation.
 





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Friday, August 21, 2015

Virgo

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---------------- Virgo



La virgen,
pura como una gota de azogue,
en la cintura un cinturón de zafiros,
reina sobre la tierra mudable.
-------La vigila Mercurio
mientras ella ordena cuidadosamente
las cuentas de cornerina, de sardónice
----en la calma de la noche plena.


-----------© Rafael Jesús González 2015



--------------Virgo
 

The virgin,
pure as a drop of quicksilver,
girdled with sapphires,
reigns over the changing earth.
-------Mercury watches her
as she carefully orders
the beads of carnelian, of sardonyx
-----in the calm of full night.




-----------© Rafael Jesús González 2015
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Sunday, August 9, 2015

Nagasaki August 9, 1945

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Let us keep a moment of silence for Nagasaki which, three days after Hiroshima, August 9, 1945 seventy years ago was victim of a nuclear bomb. Never, ever must we allow this to happen again. 


Guardemos un momento de silencio por Nagasaki que, tres días despues de Hiroshima, el 9 de agosto 1945 hace setenta años fue víctima de una bomba nuclear. Nunca jamás permitamos que esto vuelva a suceder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes




A young girl dying
taught the world to fold paper
cranes — still there is war.
Blessings written on their wings,
oh, paper cranes, fly for peace.




---------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2015



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_Sasaki 
Sadako Sasaki by Juana Alicia


 
Una niña muriendo
le enseñó al mundo doblar grullas
de papel — aun hay guerra.
Bendiciones escritas en sus alas
¡O garzas de papel! vuelen por la paz.


-------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2015

 

(to make an origami crane) 


"This is our cry. This is our prayer. 
Peace in the world." 

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Friday, August 7, 2015

Music of the Word/Palaba Musical, Sunday, August 16

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Sunday August 16th, 2015

THE MUSIC OF THE WORD
LA PALABRA MUSICAL


in English, Spanish, Spanglish y lo que sea
and always the Word Party to remember!

hosted by Avotcja 

Sunday, August 16, 2015

CAFÉ LEILA
(organic menu & fair trade products)

1724 San Pablo Avenue 
@ Francisco

Berkeley, CA 94702   
(510)525-7544 



RAFAEL JESÚS GONZÁLEZ

&


JUDY JUANITA


No Cover
(Donations accepted & don't forget to bring
your Congas, Guiros, Maracas, Panderetas etc.) 


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Thursday, August 6, 2015

Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

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It was on this day in 1945, 70 years ago, that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, another on Nagasaki. We must never let it happen again; let us work for complete nuclear disarmament throughout the world.



It's said that if you
fold one-thousand paper cranes
your wish will come true.
For peace I would gladly spend
the rest of my days folding.




----------------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2015

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes----

translation into Japanese and calligraphy 
-by Prof. Naoshi Koriyama


     

Se dice que si
doblas mil grullas de papel
se cumplirá tu deseo.
Por la paz felizmente me pasaría
el resto de mis días doblando.




----------------------                    --------© Rafael Jesús González 2015



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes




In June of 1983, about a thousand of us imprisoned in Santa Rita Prison because of blocking the entrance to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, California, where nuclear arms are designed, occupied ourselves folding cranes from old newspapers; among us all, we made many more than a thousand to send to Japan.

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