full moon: To Be Indifferent to the Moon

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-----Ser indiferente a la luna

 

 

 

Eres demasiado viejo me digo

para que te excite la luna.

Es invierno y nunca ha estado

tan fría y tan lejos

esa piedra inerte

que ronda a la Tierra

indiferente a la vida y la muerte.

Pero agua marina corre en mi venas

que no puede ser

indiferente a la luna.

 

 

 

 

                    © Rafael Jesús González 2020

 

 

 

                  

 

 

 

 

 

---To Be Indifferent to the Moon

 

 

 

You are too old, I tell myself,

to be excited by the moon.

It is winter & never has she been

so cold & so far

that inert stone

that circles the Earth

indifferent to life & death.

But sea water runs in my veins

that cannot be

indifferent to the moon.

 

 

 

                    © Rafael Jesús González 2020

 

 

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Poetry at Home - A Poet Laureate Reading Saturday, Dec. 5

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Thanksgiving

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Deplorable in its origins, sentimental in its legend, Thanksgiving is nevertheless my favorite U.S. holiday.  It is archetypal, mythic, universal, for gratitude and its expression are one of the noblest experiences of humankind. It is one of the taproots of spirituality, keystone of all religion. Of all holidays, it celebrates most strongly familial, community ties, for the sharing of food is an act of bonding, of human connection.

 

This year, it will be a difficult holiday for many of us who will mark it in isolation, away from family and loved ones. We cannot travel, we cannot touch one another much less hug or kiss; we cannot draw close to one another, and we must cover half our faces for the fear of death. Many will be homeless because their homes burned in the wildfires or were torn apart by the storms and floods of the feverish Earth, or because they simply cannot afford shelter in an economic system based on greed. The country is divided by the most deplorable sentiments of its national character: racism and bigotry, greed and lust for power.

 

Our prayers of thanks will be said through tears, but thanks must be said for the very gift of life itself, the beauty and the bounty of the sacred Earth, no matter how blasphemed and abused by human folly. Thanks must be given for the compassion and good, the desire for justice and the peace carried by the human heart. Thanks for the dedication and self-sacrifice of those who serve. Thanks for our ability to love upon which the revolution that we must make is rooted. Thanks for one another. 

 

I share with you a blessing written in a happier time, not without its difficulties to be sure, but one less burdened by the darkness that this year has brought. I offer it to you with love and hope:

---------------- Grace

Thanks and blessing be
to the Sun and the Earth
for this bread and this wine,----
this fruit, this meat, this salt, 
---------------this food;
thanks be and blessing to them
who prepare it, who serve it;
thanks and blessing to them
who share it
-----(and also the absent and the dead.)
Thanks and blessing to them who bring it
--------(may they not want),
to them who plant and tend it,
harvest and gather it
--------(may they not want);
thanks and blessing to them who work
--------and blessing to them who cannot;
may they not want — for their hunger
------sours the wine
----------and robs the salt of its taste.
Thanks be for the sustenance and strength
for our dance and the work of justice, of peace.


---------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2020


(The Montserrat Review, Issue 6, Spring 2003
[nominated for the Hobblestock Peace Poetry Award];
author’s copyrights.) 

Deplorable en sus orígenes, sentimental su leyenda, el Día de acción de gracias es sin embargo mi fiesta estadounidense favorita. Es arquetípica, mítica, universal pues la  . gratitud y su expresión son una de la experiencias más nobles de la humanidad. Es una de las raíces principales de la espiritualidad, la clave de toda religión. De todas las fiestas, celebra más destacadamente las ligas familiares, comunitarias pues el compartir de alimento es un acto de unión, de conexión humana.

 

Este año será fiesta difícil para muchos de nosotros que la marcaremos aislados, lejos de familia y seres queridos. No podemos viajar, no podemos tocarnos unos a los otros y ni mucho menos abrazarnos o besarnos y tenemos que cubrirnos la mitad de la cara por temor a la muerte. Muchos se quedarán sin hogar porque sus casas se quemaron en los incendios de los bosques o se destrozaron en las tormentas e inundaciones de la Tierra febril o porque simplemente no pueden tener techo en un sistema económico basado en la codicia. El país está dividido por los sentimientos más deplorables del carácter nacional: el racismo y la intolerancia, la codicia y la ansia del poder.

 

Nuestros rezos de gracias serán dichos por entre las lágrimas pero las gracias se tienen que dar por el mero don de la vida misma, la belleza y generosidad de la bendita Tierra no importa que tan blasfemada y abusada sea por la locura humana. Las gracias se tienen que dar por la compasión y el bien, el deseo por la justicia y la paz que trae el corazón humano. Gracias por la dedicación y el sacrificio de los que sirven. Gracias por nuestra capacidad de amar en la que se debe arraigar la revolución que tenemos que hacer. Gracias por uno al otro.

 

Comparto contigo una bendición escrita en tiempos más dichosos, no sin sus dificultades seguramente, pero menos agobiados por la oscuridad que este año a traído. Te la ofrezco con amor y esperanza.

 

-------------Gracias

Gracias y benditos sean
el Sol y la Tierra
por este pan y este vino,
-----esta fruta, esta carne, esta sal,
----------------este alimento;
gracias y bendiciones
a quienes lo preparan, lo sirven;
gracias y bendiciones
a quienes lo comparten
(y también a los ausentes y a los difuntos.)
Gracias y bendiciones a quienes lo traen
--------(que no les falte),
a quienes lo siembran y cultivan,
lo cosechan y lo recogen
-------(que no les falte);
gracias y bendiciones a los que trabajan
-------y bendiciones a los que no puedan;
que no les falte — su hambre
-----hace agrio el vino
-----------y le roba el gusto a la sal.
Gracias por el sustento y la fuerza
para nuestro bailar y nuestra labor
--------por la justicia y la paz.



----------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2020



(The Montserrat Review, no. 6, primavera 2003
[postulado para el Premio de la Poesía por la Paz Hobblestock;
derechos reservados del autor.)

 

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---- ---

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Sagittarius

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------------Sagitario


El arquero apunta a Júpiter,
----planeta de tantas lunas,
cuya luz se refleja en sus ancas,
y en la punta de topacio de su saeta
brota la llama inconstante del anhelo.
------En cadena de estaño
------lleva pectoral de turquesa
------bruñida de ensueños
---------y apunta
-------------------y apunta
---------y anhela herir al cielo.




-------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2020



-------------Sagittarius


The archer points at Jupiter,
-----planet of many moons
whose light reflects on his haunches,
and on the topaz point of his arrow
bursts the inconstant flame of his desire.
------On a chain of tin
------he wears a medallion of turquoise
------polished by dreams
---------and he points
----------------------and he points
------and desires to wound the sky. 




----------             ------© Rafael Jesús González 2020

 

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All Souls Day (Día de Muertos)

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Ofrenda por Rafael Jesús González, Museo de California en Oakland, 2017,  detalle 

Ofrenda by Rafael Jesús González, Oakland Museum of California, 2017, detail

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--Consejo para el peregrino a Mictlan

------------------------(al modo Nahua)

Cruza el campo amarillo de cempoales,
baja al reino de las sombras;
es amplio, es estrecho.
Interroga a los ancianos;
son sabios, son necios:— Señores míos, Señoras mías,
¿Qué verdad dicen sus flores, sus cantos?
¿Son verdaderamente bellas, ricas sus plumas?
¿No es el oro sólo excremento de los dioses?
Sus jades, ¿son los más finos, los más verdes?
Su legado, ¿es tinta negra, tinta roja? —

Acepta sólo lo preciso:

-----lo que te haga amplio el corazón
--------lo que te ilumine el rostro.



-----------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2020







-----Advice for the Pilgrim to Mictlan

------------------- (in the Nahua mode)


Cross the yellow fields of marigolds,
descend to the realm of shadows;
it is wide, it is narrow.
Question the ancients;
they are wise, they are fools:

— My Lords, My Ladies,
What truth do your flowers, your songs tell?
Are your feathers truly lovely, truly rich?
Is not gold only the excrement of the gods?
Your jades, are they the finest, the most green?
Your legacy, is it black ink, red ink? —

Accept only the necessary:

-----what will widen your heart
----what will enlighten your face.



----------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2020

Oakland Museum of California 

25th Días de Muertos Community Celebration 

Descent to Mictlan, The Land of the Dead

(Trance Poem in the Nahua Mode)

[Descent to Mictlan, Land of the Dead: Trance Poem in the Nahua mode (commissioned by the Oakland Museum of California while the author was Poet in Residence under a Writers on Site award by Poets & Writers, Inc. and a grant from The James Irvine Foundation in 1996) was written as a performance piece for voice, drums, didgeridoos, and movement with Xochipilli, Men's Ritual Group, intended to guide the audience upon an introspective journey of the imagination down into the kingdom of Death.

It is not so much entertainment as it is ritual art which, with the consent of each person in the audience to give himself or herself to their imagination, would induce the heightened perception of trance to descend into our collective and personal past to examine the legacy of our ancestors. What they have given us, we have become. It may be read by the attentive reader in the same way.

The times demand that we take stock of who we are, for our great Mother the Earth is wounded and, to heal her, we must heal ourselves, learn from the wisdom of our forebears and discard their mistakes. And in return for what each brings back from the store house of the past, each must make a commitment, in good faith, to change and to heal ourselves; and to care for and protect the Earth, all that she bears, and each other in brotherhood and sisterhood of the spirit and of the flesh. It is a gift and a blessing. Any less and we risk our own extinction on the Earth.]
 

Cruzad el campo amarillo de cempoales.
Cross the yellow fields of marigolds.
Bajad al reino de las sombras — es amplio, es estrecho.
Descend to the realm of shadows — it is wide, it is narrow.

We come to the mouth of the cavern of caverns,
realm of Mictlantecuhtli, Mictlancihuatl,
Señor-Señora Muerte, Our Lord, Our Lady of Death —
It is wide, it is narrow;
pasad, enter this chamber of yellow blooms,
--------the cempoalxochitl, the shield flower,
------------flor de muertos, flower of the Dead.

We step, we walk;
-----we walk the sacred;
---------every step is sacred.
We walk in the tracks of our ancestors,
we step in the tracks of the old ones,
----our grandmothers, our grandfathers,
----the ancients:
--------the people of the drum
--------the people of the canoe
--------the people of the pyramids
--------the people of the spear
--------the people of the shuttle and loom
--------the people of the sickle and plow,
------------our ancient ones, all of the clans.
They taught us to see;
they taught us not to see;
-----from them we learned to see;
-----------we learned not to see.
They taught us to dream;
------they taught us to fear;
-----------much to learn, much to unlearn.
We step in their tracks, we step on the sacred.

We walk, we step in the tracks of our ancestors,
----our relations:
---------the ocelot
---------the buffalo
---------the coyote
---------the bear
---------the salmon, the serpent, the eagle, the hawk,
---------monkey, turtle, frog,
---------the owl and the bat.
Further, further we walk:
the spider, the moth, the fly, the coral, the mite,
ameba, paramecium, germ, virus - all of the clans.
They taught us to see, to live in the now,
------to smell, to taste,
------to hear, to live in the now.
We step in their tracks,
-----we walk on the sacred —
---------all our relations, all of the clans.

We walk, we step in the tracks of our ancestors,
our relations:
-----the fern, the redwood
-----the pine, the oak
-----the cactus, the mesquite
-----the violet, the rose
-----the fig, the grape-vine, the wheat
-----the corn, the thistle, the grass
-----the mushroom, the moss, the lichen, the algae,
-----the mold — all of the clans.
They taught us to touch, to fully delight in the here,
------to find contentment on the here.
We step in their tracks,
-----we walk on the sacred —
---------all our relations, all of the clans.

We walk, we step
-----in the tracks of our ancestors, our relations:
--------the granite, the sandstone
--------the jasper, the serpentine
--------the turquoise, the flint
--------the opal, the crystal
--------the agate, the jade
--------the gold, the iron
----the silver, the lead, the copper, the tin,
----boulder, pebble, sand, dust — all of the clans.
They taught us silence, quiet;
------they taught us to stay, to be.
We step in their track,
-----we walk on the sacred —
---------all our relations, all of the clans.

------It is dark; it is light —
here the roots of the Tree of Life,
------árbol de la vida, tree of Tamoanchan.
Look: wealth, treasure, our inheritance.
Look: teocuitatl, oro, gold, shit of the gods
-------chalchihuitl, jade, jade, the green stone
-------quetzalli, plumas, feathers, the precious things
-------xochitl, flores, the roots of flowers —
gifts and burdens,
------the useful, the hindering,
----------the dark medicine, the glittering poison.
Pick and choose: empowering joys there are,
--------------------useless sorrows there are;
needs true — clear and lovely as water
desires true — ruddy and joyous as wine;
--------needs false and deadly as arsenic
--------desires false and deadly as knives;
swords of jewels, plows muddied and dulled by stones;
--------dazzling powders, herbs rich in visions.
Choose and sort — it is not much you can carry.

Our ancestors, our relations make council; listen:

Much have our mothers, our fathers
-------our grandmothers, our grandfathers
-------our ancestors left us:
-----------gifts are there for our blessing
-----------debts are there for our curse.

Interroga a los ancianos — son sabios, son necios.
Question the ancients — they are wise, they are fools.

Señores míos, Señoras mías — my Lords, my Ladies,
---------¿Qué verdad dicen sus flores, sus cantos?
---------What truth do your flowers, your songs tell?
---------¿Són verdaderamente bellas, ricas sus plumas?
---------Are your feathers truly lovely, truly rich?
---------¿No es el oro sólo excremento de los dioses?
---------Is not gold only the excrement of the gods?
---------Sus jades, ¿son los más finos, los más verdes?
---------Your jades, are they the finest, the most green?
---------Su legado, ¿es tinta negra, tinta roja?
---------Your legacy, is it black ink, red ink?

They offer gifts, they give teachings:
------precious, worthless
------healing, dangerous —

sort, choose — choose the precious, the healing;
-----------------discard the worthless, the harmful;
------there is much to learn, there is much to unlearn.
Choose - each offers gifts, our ancestors, our relations —
---------human, animal, plant, mineral —
------------------they are us, our relations.
Choose and sort, sort and choose
---------these gifts are of the Earth, la Tierra
---------these gifts celebrate and nurture her
---------these gifts blaspheme and destroy her
---------------------These gifts are of the Earth.
Sort and choose, choose and sort.
-----The ancients are wise, the ancients are fools;
----------riches they gathered, garbage they hoarded.
Acepta sólo lo preciso; accept only the necessary:
--------lo que te haga amplio el corazón
--------what will widen your heart
--------lo que te ilumine el rostro
--------what will enlighten your face.
Pick and choose —
------hush —
--------------in silence sort and choose, sort and choose.

Hush —
----------Look carefully - have we chosen well?
the way back is hard, full of dread
----and much have our ancestors left us.
---------What of their gifts is worth the sharing?
----------------Consider well —
------------------------the gold and the jeweled sword
--------------------is not more than the work-dulled plow.
Consider, test your choice —
---------------------------------hush —
Tasks await us on the Earth for our healing, for hers —
-------difficult, great.
---------------Choose well for the journey, for the work.
hush —
---------remember:
----------------------joy is the root of our strength,
------------- the roots that feed us come from the heart
---------the science most wise disturbs least —

-----hush — hush — hush

So, we choose what we choose.
Remember: from these gifts we make our own;
--------------we add to the hoard.
-------Do not burden the children.
Do not carry so much we cannot hold each other’s hands.
----Remember: the most precious treasure
-----------------is that which we take for the giving.

We choose what we choose —
-----make ready — take up your bundle,
-----the seeds of our making - it is light, it is heavy;
-----precious are the bones of our ancestors;
-----leaving them buried makes them no less precious;
they are of the Earth, Madre Tierra, Coatlicue,
-----------------Pachi Mama, the Earth needs them.
------ehecatl, aire, air
------tletl, fuego, fire
------atl, agua, water
------tlalli, tierra, earth.

Make ready to leave the store house, the treasure;
walk round the cavern once as the clock turns
------from the East, red and gold with knowledge
------to the South yellow and green with love
------to the West black and blue with strength
------to the North white with healing.
You are now at the threshold — it is wide, it is narrow
-----------------------------------it is dark, it is light
-----------------------------------it is steep, it is plain.
Do not look back;
leave Mictlan, reino de la muerte, realm of the dead;
-------leave the cave of the ancients,
--------------the cave of our treasure;
------------------begin the way back.
What you bring back from the land of the dead,
-------from among the bones of the ancestors,
-------------is your gift to life.
---------------------Pray the gods you choose well.

Vuelve, vuelve, return.

It is your commitment,
-----the healing of yourself and the Earth.
What will you do?
-------How will you honor the ancestors?
-------------What will you say to the children?
--------------------What will you do for justice and peace?

Vuelve, vuelve, return.
Go, vete —
------------lleva la bendición de la vida;
------------------carry the blessing of life.
------------Go, vete —
form a face, form a heart.
forma un rostro, un corazón
in ixtli, in yollotl

Go, vete, go —
que los dioses te tengan, may the gods keep you.

In whatever you do, bendice la vida,
--------------pass on the blessing of life.

Vete y bendice la vida;
-----Go and pass on the blessing of life.

Vete, ha acabado; Go, the journey is finished —

Vete y empieza un día nuevo,
-----Go and begin a new day.

-----Vete, Go. 


--------------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2020




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Feast of All Saints

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El 2 de noviembre Día de Muertos mexicano es un fiesta compleja en la que el dolor de la muerte y la alegría de la vida se entrelazan en la memoria y en la celebración, tal como en la celebración del Día de Muertos en el Museo de California en Oakland el año pasado en época mucho, mucho más feliz. Este año celebraremos el Día de Muertos aislados con mucha más tristeza que alegría — pero nunca, nunca se debe menospreciar la alegría. Hay un viejo refrán: Lo que he bailado nada me lo puede quitar. 

 

Pero la muerte y el sufrimiento causado por la pandemia coronavirus, la tortura y muertes de inmigrantes por parte del gobierno estadunidense, los asesinatos de nuestros hermanos, hermanas negros y morenos por la policía, los incendios e inundaciones del cambio climático pesan mucho en el corazón. Y en los EE.UU. tenemos que elegir entre la democracia o el fascismo; el 3 de noviembre es nuestro momento de verdad. 

 

Vote lo antes posible, si es posible lleve su boleta a un buzón de boletas o al lugar de votación; esta es la última oportunidad para que todos tengamos oportunidad en estos EE.UU. en estas elecciones. ¿Tiene un plan para votar antes del 3 de noviembre? Haga clic aquí para encontrar todo lo que necesite, incluidos los horarios y lugares para votar y donde dejar su boleta. Nuestras vidas dependen de ello.

November 2 the Mexican Día de Muertos is a complex holiday in which the pain of death and the joy of life entwine in memory and celebration, such as in last year's 25th annual celebration of Día de Muertos at the Oakland Museum of California in a much,  much happier time. This year we celebrate Día de Muertos in isolation with the sorrow much out-weighing the joy — but never, never must joy be short-changed. There is an old Spanish saying: Lo que he bailado nada me lo puede quitar (what I have danced nothing can take from me.) 

But the death and suffering caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the torture and death of immigrants by the U.S. government, the murder of our black and brown brothers and sisters by the police, the fires and floods of climate change weigh heavily on our hearts. And we in the U.S. must elect between democracy or fascism; November 3 is our moment of truth.

Please vote the soonest possible, if possible take your ballot to a ballot drop box or your polling place; this is the final push for all of us to have a chance at this America in this election. Do you have a plan to vote by November 3? Click here to find everything you need, including hours and locations for voting and where to drop off your ballot. Our lives depend on it.

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