Friday, March 31, 2017

César E. Chávez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993)

Oración del campesino en la lucha

Enséñame el sufrimiento de los más desafortunados;
así conoceré el dolor de mi pueblo.
Líbrame a orar por los demás
porque estás presente en cada persona.
Ayúdame a tomar responsabilidad de mi propia vida;
sólo así, seré libre al fin.
Concédeme valentía para servir al prójimo
porque en la entrega hay vida verdadera.
Concédeme honradez y paciencia
para que yo pueda trabajar junto con otros trabajadores.
Alúmbranos con el canto y la celebración
para que se eleve el espíritu entre nosotros.
Que el espíritu florezca y crezca
para que no nos cansemos de la lucha.
Acordémonos de los que han caído por la justicia
porque a nosotros han entregado la vida.
Ayúdanos a amar aun a los que nos odian;
así podremos cambiar el mundo.
--------------------------------------------------Amen.

------------------------------por César E. Chávez

------------------------------Fundador del UFW

by Robert Lentz

-----Prayer of the Farm Workers' Struggle

Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
thus I will know my people's plight.
Free me to pray for others,
for you are present in every person.
Help me take responsibility for my own life
so that I can be free at last.
Grant me courage to serve my neighbor
for in surrender is there truly life.
Grant me honesty and patience
so that I can work with other workers.
Enlighten us with song and celebration
so that the spirit will be alive among us.
Let the spirit flourish and grow
so that we will never tire of the struggle.
Let us remember those who have died for justice
for they have given us life.
Help us love even those who hate us;
thus we can change the world.
-------------------------------------Amen.

----------------------b--by César E. Chávez

----------------------------------UFW Founder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Farm_Workers

Sunday, March 26, 2017

San Francisco Public Library reading Tuesday, April 11

Friends of

San Francisco Public Library

Poetry Reading

in the historic literary epicenter of San Francisco

850 Columbus Ave.

(between Greenwich & Lombard)

San Francisco, California

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

6:30 - 8:00 PM

featuring

Rafael Jesús González

(accompanied on flute by Gerardo Omar Marín)

Barbara Paschke

free to the public

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Portrait of U. S. President #45

Retrato del presidente #45 de los EE. UU.

en los más cálidos colores

Tiene cara anaranjada

y su pelo estupendo amarillo

le cubre el cuello que sabemos

es del matiz más rojizo.

Portrait of U. S. President #45

in the Warmest Colors

He has an orange face

& his terrific yellow hair

covers his neck we know

is of the ruddiest hue.

(And what was that about the size of his hands
& what it signifies?)

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Words of Resistance Saturday, April 1

Writers of the Resistance:

Somos en escrito

The Latino Literary Online Magazine

presents

Words of Resistance

Saturday, April 1

4:15 - 5:15 pm

Berkeley Public Library

2090 Kittredge St.

Berkeley, California

A literary event featuring nationally and internationally renowned Cuban American and Mexican American authors. In the US climate of heightened deportations and anti-Latino sentiments, these poets and storytellers - Cristina Garcia, Dr. Carlota Caulfield, Lucha Corpi, Vanessa García, and Rafael Jesús González - will offer their tales of knowledge, unity, and visibility.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Aries — Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox and Aries

--------------------Aries

Al morueco de los comienzos
lo impulsa la estrella roja
que relumbra en sus ojos de diamante
y se refleja en sus cuernos de heliotropo,
sus pesuñas de hierro.-----
----Guarda el fuego cardinal del anhelo-----
----y sobre su cabeza--------------
------------giran el día y la noche---------------------
------------------la noche y el día--------------
------------en el baile simétrico
------------------del tiempo.

-----------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2017

---------------Aries

The ram of beginnings
is driven by the red star
which shines in its diamond eyes,
reflects in its bloodstone horns,
its iron hoofs.
----It guards the cardinal fire
-- -of ambition
----and above its head
-------turn day and night
--------night and day----
-----in the symmetrical dance
------------of time.

----------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2017

Friday, March 17, 2017

Pandemonium Press Reading Tuesday, April 4

Pandemonium Press Reading

"When April Showers Come"

Tuesday, April 4

6:30 - 9:00 PM

The Spice Monkey

1628 Webster St.

(near 19th St. BART station)

Oakland, California

Sunday, March 12, 2017

full moon: Bare as the Moon

-

---------Desnudo como la luna

El emperador nunca llevó ropa,
ningún mago sastre desviado lo engaño,
siempre anduvo desnudo como la luna.
Los que no fueron repugnados
fueron encantados por su descubierto,
su culo mas el espejo
de lo peor en el alma del país.
Ahora cuando algunos comentan
que está en cueros, es:
------¡Fuera son sus cabezas!

------------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2017

----------Bare as the Moon

The emperor never wore any clothes,
no wayward wizard tailor ever tricked him,
he was always bare as the moon.
Those who were not repulsed
were enthralled by his mooning,
his butt but the mirror
of the worst in the country's soul.
Now when some remark
that he is stark naked, it is:
-----"Off with their heads!"

----------------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2017

-

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

International Women's Day

Día Internacional de la Mujer 2017

Mi amor, mi respeto, mi apoyo, mis esperanzas por las mujeres en este día. No haré sino repetir lo que dije en el día de la Marcha de las Mujeres el 21 de enero:

Debemos ser muy agradecidos por las marchas de las mujeres en los Estados Unidos, por todas las Américas, por el mundo entero el 21 de enero 2017 día siguiente la inauguración del presidente 45 de los Estados Unidos en resistencia al fascismo que nos amenaza a todos. Gracias, gracias, hermanas nuestras, por ser mujeres, por su poder, por su gracia. Esperemos que sus acciones hagan patente la mera esencia de lo que debe ser nuestra revolución contra el patriarcado de milenios que nos ha llevado a este punto, un patriarcado que nos ha herido a todos y afligido a la Tierra misma a tal punto que su mera habilidad de dar y sostener vida tal como la conocemos está por perderse.

Tal vez deberíamos estar agradecidos al presidente estadounidense 45, caricatura encarnada del masculino herido, deformado y pervertido por el patriarcado tóxico por aterrorizarnos de nuestra pesadilla.

Gracias y por favor, hermanas nuestras; lleguen a su poder y hagan entrar la era del/la sanador(a) que la edad del guerrero no nos ha servido bien y debe acabar. Por favor y gracias, hermanos, por honorar a las mujeres y liberar lo femenino en nosotros. Se trata de la liberación de la mujer y de la liberación del hombre también de un patriarcado que nos mutila a todos. O nos liberamos todos juntos o ningunos somos. El mundo y la Tierra depende en ello.

International Women's Day 2017

My love, my respect, my support, my hopes of women on this day. I will not but reiterate what I said on the day of the Women's March of January 21st:

We must be very grateful for the Women's marches in the United States, throughout the Americas, throughout the world January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States, in resistance to the fascism that menaces us all. Thank you, thank you, our sisters, for your womanhood, your power, your grace. Let us hope that your actions make patent the very essence of what must be our revolution against the patriarchy of millennia that has brought us to this juncture, a patriarchy that has wounded us all and distressed the Earth itself to the point where her very ability to bear and sustain life as we know it is at stake.

Perhaps we should be grateful to the 45th U.S. president, embodied caricature of the masculine, wounded, distorted, and perverted by a toxic patriarchy, to terrify us from our nightmare.

Thank you and please, our sisters; come into your power and bring in the age of the healer, for the age of the warrior has not served us well and must come to an end. Please and thank you, brothers, for honoring women and liberating the feminine within ourselves. It is a matter of women's liberation and of men's liberation as well from a patriarchy that maims us all. We are all liberated together or none of us are. The world and the Earth depend upon it.