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Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Feast Day of Saint Thomas
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Fiesta de Santo Tomás
El patrón de los
escépticos
tuvo que comprobar
la profundidad del
amor
tocando la herida
en el costado del
Amante.
Y así estableció la
diferencia
entre la fe y la
credulidad,
el creyente y el
crédulo,
la Tierra y un pastel
en los cielos
que si el camino a la
justicia
conduzca al martirio
sea por el amor y la
verdad
y no por el temor y la
mentira.
.
-----©
Rafael Jesús González 2018
Feast
Day of Saint Thomas
The
patron of skeptics
had
to prove
the
depth of love
touching
the wound
in
the side of the Lover.
&
thus established the difference
between
faith & credulity,
the
believer & the credulous,
the
Earth & a pie in the sky
for
if the road to justice
leads
to martyrdom
let
it be for love & truth
&
not fear and lies.
-------© Rafael Jesús González 2018
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Wednesday, June 27, 2018
full moon: So Kind Is the Moon
Es tan amable la luna
La luna llena se cuela
por entre las rejas de la
cárcel
de niños
para recoger sus
sollozos
en su delantal de luz
y llevárselos a sus
padres
en cárcel de adultos
y traerles lamentos y
bendiciones
de sus madres, sus padres
a los niños.
Es tan amable la luna
que no niega su luz
ni a los malvados
traficantes de angustia.
Es tan amable la luna.
---------------© Rafael Jesús González 2018
So
Kind Is the Moon
The
full moon slips
through
the bars of the jail
of
the children
to
gather their sobs
in
her apron of light
&
carry them to their parents
in
the jail for adults
&
bring the laments & blessings
of
their mothers & fathers
back
to the children.
The
moon is so kind
that
it does not deny its light
even
to the evil dealers in anguish.
So
kind is the moon.
---------© Rafael Jesús González 2018
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Sunday, June 24, 2018
riverbabble 33
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riverbabble 33
Summer Issue
Nancy Flynn:
First Line of Defense: A Cento
Continuing Questions of Vast Moment
Rafael Jesús González:
Bendición para viaje interior / Blessing for the Inner Journey
En el festival de jazz, Nueva Orleáns / At jazz Fest, New Orleans
Anita Pulier:
Failed Reunion
My Friend
Janet Reed:
Elegy to the Boulevard Voltaire
Sistine Family
Anita Sagastegui:
This is a Picture
Coquelicot / Poppy
d.n.simmers:
My brother, my eyes
heart of the City Festival 2017 Reading
Ken Weisner:
Letter to My Wife
Rescuing the Bee
Bruce Bagnell: A Knockout Babe
Amy Neill Bebergal: Disappearing Spoon
Wayne Burke: The Minutemen
Lucille Lang Day: Almost Mugged in Lucca
Jeannette DesBoine: Gifted
Grace Marie Grafton: Adjure
KJ Hannah Greenberg: Succor
Miriam N. Kotzin: Nevertheless Monet Sings Country
Naomi Lowinsky: Fire
Matt McGee: Spicoli's Ghost
Megan Denese Mealor: Cemetery Birds
Edward Mycue: New-Found Fire—slack(n) / slack ('n)
James B Nicola: skunk
Anne Paterson: Dignity
Gregory Owen Pearse: Blossoming
Lee Rossi: Tranquility
B.L.P. Simmons: Make Me a Stone
Sandra Storey: News from the Big Island
Anne Whitehouse: Protest Poem
Fiction
Mabel's
The 365th Day
Travis Hedge Coke: Ceded Reach
Ken Poyner: In Sympathy
Mitchell Toews: Nothing to Lose
Scot Walker: La Mer
Flash Fiction
That's Iyerny!
You Win Again
jd daniels: Eventide
Roy Dorman: First Date With A Contract Killer
Jake W. Ford: The River
Richard Loranger: Earth Punk
Chuck Taylor : Burning Off
Essay
Scot Walker: Poof
Cover
Disappearing by Lola Chivallek
And thou hast left me alone for ever in the dark ways of my bitterness:
and with a kiss of ashes hast thou
kissed my mouth.
JAMES JOYCE, Ulysses, Oxen of the Sun, 18537-18539.
JAMES JOYCE, Ulysses, Oxen of the Sun, 18537-18539.
Pandemonium Press
2nd printing available from
the publisher: pandemoniumpress@gmail.com
Leila Rae, editor
riverbabble
http://iceflow.com/riverbabble/Welcome.html-
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Thursday, June 21, 2018
Cancer - Summer Solstice
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Our
prayer for the Summer Solstice is for our healing. The
very worst in the U.S.
national character holds sway: contempt for justice, for
the democracy of which
we boast, for the truth itself, for the Earth. Racism,
sheer cruelty, madness
governs us. The nation suffers an illness of the soul
that threatens life
itself.
But
also there is hope in the resistance that rises from
what is best in the
people: compassion, respect for justice, for democracy,
a reverence for truth,
for the Earth, for life. Herein lie our hopes for
healing. The light of love
must prevail.
* * *
Nuesto rezo para el solsticio veraniego es por nuestro sanar. Lo peor en el carácter nacional estadounidense domina: desprecio por la justicia, por la democracia de la cual hacemos alarde, por la verdad mera, por la Tierra. El racismo, la absoluta crueldad, la locura nos gobiernan. La nación sufre una enfermedad del alma que amenaza a la vida misma.
Pero también hay esperanza en la resistencia que surge de lo que es lo mejor en el pueblo: la compasión, el respeto a la justicia, veneración por la verdad, por la Tierra, la vida. En esto están nuestras esperanzas de sanar. La luz del amar tiene que tiunfar.
Summer Solstice & Cancer
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-----------Cáncer
El cangrejo anhela,
después del largo día,
arrancar del cielo
esa moneda de plata fría
que es la luna.
---Sus ojos son cuentas de rubí
---y en las entrañas
---guarda un perla sensitiva
que anhela llevar muy hondo,
---------------------muy hondo
al punto cardinal del agua,
---al fondo primordial del mar.
--------------© Rafael Jesús González 2018
-----------Cancer
The crab longs,
after the long day,
to tear from the sky
that coin of cold silver
that is the moon.
-----Its eyes are ruby beads
-----& in its entrails
-----it keeps a sensitive pearl
which it longs to carry very deep,
----------------------------very deep
to the cardinal point of the waters,
---the primordial depths of the sea.
----------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2018
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Thursday, June 14, 2018
Poets for Puerto Rico, Friday June 22
Friday, June 22
Poets for Puerto Rico: ¡El Grito de la Bahía! Join us for a night of poetry and music benefiting the Puerto Rican artist community in San Juan!
Poets confirmed: #PoetsforPuertoRico
founder Willie Perdomo, Aya de León, Rico Pabón, Berkeley Poet Laureate
Rafael Jesús González, Sandra García Rivera, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Paul
Flores, L7, Susana Praver-Pérez, Tony Aldarondo, Fish Vargas, Raina
León, Vylma V, Ilia Correa, Julia y Jesus Cepeda, Art3mis Prime, ¡y más!
In collaboration with Litside Collective.
Plus, LIVE MUSIC by CaliGente, a Bay Area group blending hip-hop lyrics and island rhythms! And DJ GLO will be throwing down tropical tunes!
Friday, June 22 at 7:30pm
BUY TICKETS $15 Adv. / $20 Door
Friday, June 22 at 7:30pm
BUY TICKETS $15 Adv. / $20 Door
The #PoetsforPuertoRico
movement is gaining national traction. Thus far, events have been
launched in NYC, Philadelphia, and now the Bay Area! A movement of
stateside Puerto Rican poets, created in response to Hurricane Maria,
our goals are to amplify the needs of the island and to send our
community a message: Sometimes poetry is about more than the poetry.
Proceeds from this event will support hurricane preparedness for The Poet’s Passage
– a living museum of poetry, art center, café, gift store, and local
craft studio for local and visiting poets in Old San Juan, founded by
poet, artist, and creative director Lady Lee Andrews.
With
the recent news revealing the overwhelming loss of life related to
Hurricane Maria, and the neglect of government and the media to
accurately reflect the devastation, I know that many of us are already
suffering from “disaster fatigue,” and/or the general exhaustion of
supporting our communities to live with dignity. But we will persevere,
and be unrelenting in spreading the word. Thank you so much for your
support we hope you will join us in helping to spread the word about
this amazing event for this important cause.
As stories and news continue to be unearthed, we poets will reflect the resilience, and dignity of our pueblo.
********************
Important links:
The Poet’s Passage: https://www.poetspassage.com/home-poets-passage-old-san-juan-puerto-rico.php
The Poet’s Passage Go Fund Me: https://www.gofundme.com/PassageVsMaria
Poets for Puerto Rico: https://www.facebook.com/pg/PoetsforPuertoRico/about/
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Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Federico García Lorca 6/5/1898 - 8/19/1936
---------Sevilla de las Escobas
-------------------------a Federico García Lorca
Cuidado Sevilla que vas a perder el alma;
la Taberna de las Escobas ya está cerrada.
Hay sólo ecos en la solera
y donde corrían los finos,
amontillados y olorosos
está un ángel, piel de escarcha
con un copón de sollozos.
Cuidado Sevilla mía, Sevilla de los gitanos
que en el rincón de guitarras
sólo hay papeles floreados.
Lope con elegante ademán bebe su solera fina
dando la espalda a Byron y Béquer
que se disputen el amor de La Giralda.
Cervantes y Dumas discuten en laberintos de sueños
el hecho que la taberna fue violada por sus dueños.
(En el portón del Patio de las Naranjos
los santos de piedra guardan
sus silencios almidonados.)
El cardenal arzobispo trata de ocultar
bajo su casulla de oro
el tiritar de pericos y la luz de su tesoro.
¡Ay! hija de La Giralda, Sevilla enamorada,
la Taberna de las Escobas ya está cerrada;
un azulejo malhecho lo hace de epitafio oscuro
donde un barbero burlón se mira fumando un puro.
Allá en el Cortijo de Frías los condes cantan borrachos
y en el puente de San Telmo el río se cruza de brazos
mientras al pie de la Torre del Oro
se enamoran los muchachos.
¡Ay! Sevilla de naranjos, de aceitunas y claveles
ni bulerías ni soleares podrán cambiarte la suerte.
(En la sala capitular al centro de la cabeza
tengo un concilio de duendes
para canonizar la taberna.)
-----------------------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2018
-----------Seville of the Brooms
---------------------------to Federico García Lorca
Take care, Seville, or you will lose your soul;
the Tavern of the Brooms is now closed.
There are only echoes in the cellars
& where ran the finos,
amontillados & olorosos
there is an angel, skin of frost
holding a goblet of sighs.
Take care my Seville, Seville of the gypsies
for in the corner of the guitars
there are only flowered papers.
Lope with elegant demeanor drinks his fine sherry
turning his back on Byron & Béquer
who dispute their love of La Giralda.
Cervantes & Dumas discuss in labyrinths of dreams
the fact that its owners violated the tavern.
(On the gate of the Patio of the Oranges
the stone saints keep
their starched silence.)
The Cardinal Archbishop tries to hide
under his chasuble of gold
the tittering of parrots & the light of his treasure.
Oh, daughter of La Giralda, enamored Seville,
the Tavern of the Brooms is now closed;
an ill-made tile stands for dark epitaph
where a mocking cigar-smoking barber looks at himself.
There in the Cortijo de Frías the counts sing drunkenly
& on the bridge of San Telmo the river crosses its arms
while at the foot of the Tower of the Gold
the boys fall in love.
Oh, Seville of oranges, of olives, & of carnations
not bulerías nor soleares will be able to change your fate.
(In the chapter chamber in the center of my head
I hold a council of gnomes
to make the tavern a saint.)
--------------------------------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2018
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