Rafael reads two poems, each in English and Spanish:
Wake Up U.S. America!/¡Despierta EE.UU. América!
and
The Moon Masks Herself/La luna se enmascara,
followed by the poets conversation about Black Lives
Matter in the Revolution of the Heart in the post
pandemic world to come. English and Spanish subtitles
are available on the
video settings button.
Rafael Jesús González has
always been the
poet
laureate of Berkeley for me, long before he was
appointed in 2017. As a multimedia producer, I often
called on him for poems and interviews with a
spiritual take on nuclear disarmament, world peace,
equal rights, Chicano history, environmentalism, and
the love of Mother Earth. He always has a lot to say
about the moon too, on a monthly basis, which earns
him a place in the my feminist lexicon. As an activist
poet he has spent time in Santa Rita jail for
protesting the war machine. As a graphic artist his
altars and other artistic works are exhibited in the
Oakland Museum. And when he was a professor at Laney
College, he struggled for and established the Mexican
and Latin American studies department.
I first encountered Rafael in 1969, when we both
appeared in the same poetry anthology, “
Mark in Time”,
published by Glide Press, which was the first time I
was included in an anthology of San Francisco poets.
Rafael Jesús
González, 1969. From Mark In Time
published by Glide Press.
Nina Serrano,
1969. From Mark In Time published by
Glide Press.
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Rafael is still the same man who you see in this
interview 51 years later, kind, friendly, full of
intelligence, laughter, passion, activism, and
cosmology that ties him to Mother Earth. While I
studied for my Master’s Degree (class of 2002) at the
Oakland campus of Naropa University, Rafael was on the
Board of Directors trying to keep the University of
Creation Spirituality afloat with its art based
education and spiritual curriculum.
Rafael Jesús
González, Screen shot from video, 2020.
Nina Serrano,
Screen shot from video, 2020.
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Our regular
KPFA-fm radio program, La
Raza Chronicles, has always turned to Rafael for
the most advanced and profound thinking on events in
the Latinx world. He has always promoted bilingualism
demanding that any poem of his read in public or
published in print be included in both Spanish and
English. He is truly the product of a border town with
fluid movement between the two countries and the two
cultures, the twin cities: El Paso, Texas, USA and
Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.
When I visited him in Berkeley I should not have been
surprised that his house straddled the Oakland
Berkeley border. I cannot remember if the cozy kitchen
was in Berkeley and the wood lined living room in
Oakland or if it was the reverse. My best memory of
his home was the garden, with wild and fragrant
plants. I think it is in his garden that his ideas
incubate and blossom.
Universal Earth
Justice Peace flag by Rafael Jesús González
In my own home, you can find Rafael’s colorfully
designed
Universal Earth Justice Peace
flag and buttons. I also treasure the earrings
he’s made and the little Spanish scrolled sewing
scissors and thimble he brought me from Toledo.
Below you will find the poems presented in the
video.
¡Despierta EE.UU. América!
Cuando un jugador de pelota se hinca sobre la hierba
para protestar por la justicia cuando se toca
una canción de cantina hecha sagrada, se le denigra
y despide. Pero cuando la policía ponen la rodilla
al cuello de sus víctimas o les disparan
más veces que no se le llama
"Cumpliendo su deber." ¿No vemos
porque dormimos o somos ciegos
como nos gusta representar a la justicia?
Quitémosle la venda de los ojos para que vea
que su báscula está fuera de balance,
que no es daltónica y si lo es
que lo corrija. En la visión del Tao
lo negro y lo blanco son equivalentes, uno no más
de valor que el otro pero su báscula
se desequilibra a favor de lo blanco, todo matiz de
negro
no contando por mucho. ¿Será porque dormimos?
Si solamente es que dormimos ¡Despierta EE.UU.
América!
Si es que nos negamos a ver ¡Que nos ayuden los
dioses!
© Rafael Jesús González 2020
Wake Up U.S. America!
When a ball player kneels upon the turf
to protest for justice when a bar-room song
made sacred is played, he is vilified
& fired. But when police take their knees
to the necks of their victims or shoot them
more often than not it is called
"In the line of duty." Do we not see
because we sleep or are we blind
like we like to portray justice?
Unbind her eyes that she may see
that her scales are out of balance,
that she is not color-blind & if she is
to correct it. In the vision of the Tao
black & white are equal, one no more
of value than the other but her scales
are weighted to the white, all shades of black
not counting for much. Is it because we sleep?
If it is only sleep, Wake up U.S. America!
If it is that we refuse to see, may the gods help us.
© Rafael Jesús González 2020
La luna se enmascara
Prepárense, un amigo astrólogo nos dice, a que la
luna esta noche se enmascare con la sombra de la tierra. El primer eclipse lunar del año
pronto siguió la conjunción de Saturno (padre de dioses, del tiempo, de la
generación, disolución, renovación, liberación) y Pluto (acumulador de riqueza, rey del inframundo), ocurrencia de una vez cada treinta y ocho años.
En ese momento escribió: Sí, estamos comprometidos.
Grandes cambios están sobre nosotros. Ha
llegado el tiempo para la trasformación .
. . Los eclipses son presagio de la revelación cuando el contenido de las sombras se
hace más visible. Esto anuncia un momento de gran cambio donde el mundo se sacude, se
sacude para que despierte. Tres eclipses seguidos en vez de dos en este ciclo de
eclipses, nota. Y despertamos. Aislados en nuestras casas por la pandemia, la amenaza
de la otra pestilencia del fascismo nos saca a muchos de nuestros refugios a
riesgo de contagio. ¿Cual es peor?
Cercado en una gran casa blanca el jefe demagogo
plutocrático 45 exige toques de queda y amenaza llamar al ejército para aplastar toda
protesta. Pero, advierte Naomi, “Cuando dicen que no tenemos el derecho a protestar,
ese es el momento de inundar las calles” Y muchos sabemos que así es. Nuestras vidas están a riesgo y no solamente por un virus coronado.
Venus, la Serpiente Emplumada se prepara a
sacrificarse en la fogata del sol para surgir de nuevo siete días después como Señor del
Amanecer; comienza un ciclo de 584 días. ¿En 584 días hasta donde llevaremos nuestra
revolución, nuestra revolución sanadora?
© Rafael Jesús González 2020
The Moon Masks Herself
Prepare, an astrologer friend tells us, for the moon
tonight to mask herself in the Earth’s shadow. The first lunar eclipse of the year
followed fast upon the conjunction of Saturn (father of gods, of time, of generation,
dissolution, renewal, liberation) and Pluto (hoarder of wealth, king of the underworld), a once
every thirty-eight years occurrence. At that time he wrote: Yes, we’re in for it. Great
changes are upon us. The time for transformation has arrived. . . Eclipses are
harbingers of exposure, when shadow contents become more visible. This heralds a time of
great change, where our world is shaken up, shaken in order to awaken.
Three eclipses in a row rather than two in this
eclipse cycle, he notes. And we awaken. Sequestered in our houses by the pandemic, the threat
of the other pestilence of fascism draws many of us from our shelters at the risk
of contagion. Which is the worst? Fenced in a big white house, chief plutocratic
demagogue 45 demands curfews and threatens to call the army to squelch all protest.
But, says Naomi, “When they say we don’t have the right to protest, that is the moment to
flood the streets.” And many of us know it to be so. Our lives are at stake and not
only from a crowned virus.
Venus, the Plumed Serpent prepares to immolate
himself in the bonfire of the sun to rise again seven days later as Lord of the Dawn; a
584-day cycle begins. How far in 584 days will we take our revolution, our healing
revolution?
© Rafael Jesús González 2020
