Halloween

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- - ----------Trick & Treat


Death at the door,
----or lurking among the leaves,
death itself is the inevitable trick;
the only treat worth the having,
----to love fearlessly,
------------------------and well.



--------------© Rafael Jesús González 2014



(The Montserrat Review, Issue 7, Spring 2003;
author’s copyrights)

 

Oakland Museum of California 

20th Días de Muertos Community Celebration 

-----------Chasco y Regalo


La muerte a la puerta,
----o en emboscada entre la hojas,
la muerte misma es el chasco inevitable;
el único regalo que vale la pena,
-----amar sin temor,
------------------------y amar bien.



-------               --------© Rafael Jesús González 2014

Overthrowing Capitalism, A Symposium, Saturday, November 15

 We cannot keep a world 
that destroys the Earth 
that birthed and sustains it. 

-------------------~ Rafael Jesús González 

 
You are invited

 

& World Poetry Movement

Announce

A Major Literary and Cultural Event

A Symposium in Poetry, Dialogue and Song

WHAT: Speakers, Poetry, Music on the theme  

OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM

WHERE:  

Emerald Tablet Gallery 

80 Fresno St., 

San Francisco, California 
 
WHEN:

 Saturday, November 15, 2014, 

2 PM - 9 PM
 

FREE - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

SPEAKERS:          

4 pm:   Kiilu Nyasha, Jerry Mander, Arnoldo Garcia

7 pm: Tony Serra, Nancy Mancias, Sandy Perry

POETS:

Dorothy Payne, Sarah Menefee, Mahnaz Badihian, Gary Hicks,

Jack Hirschman, Doren Robbins, Karen Melander-Magoon, 

Dee Allen,  John Curl,  Rafael Jesús González,  

Martin Hickel,  Agneta Falk,  J.Vern Cromartie, 

David Volpendesta, Virginia Barrett, Kirk Lumpkin, 

Steven Gray,  Judith Ayn Bernhard, Nina Serrano, 

Kristina Brown, Yolanda Catzalco, Lincoln Bergman, 

Neell Cherkorski, Robert Anbian, Melba Abela,  

Mark Lipman,  Kathleen Weaver [reading Nancy Morejón]


MUSICIANS:

Colin O'Leary, Carol Denney, Ngaire Young,
Daniel Averenga, Francisco Herrera, Mauro Fortissimo

 *****************************************

OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM

On November 15, 2014, poets, speakers, and musicians will gather in San Francisco in collaboration and celebration on the theme Overthrowing Capitalism, organized by the Revolutionary Poets Brigade in conjunction with the World Poetry Movement.

We expect it to be a day filled with sophisticated and inspiring visions, insights, ideas, exposés, and analysis from artists, thinkers, and activists who are serious about the work ahead. Words that unmask capitalism and raise our consciousness to hopefully lead the world into a more cooperative society. What is capitalism? Might it be reformed into a constructive force, or can we move beyond it only by overthrowing it? What does overthrowing capitalism look like? How do we know when it's overthrown? What might a post-capitalist world look like?

This century is issuing in an era of unprecedented planetary crises, and we have only a short time to transform these many looming disasters into a powerful movement for a constructive revolutionary future. We call on all poets and all people to join us in making a new beginning, to reach deep into your center and bring forth the energies that can lead humanity and the natural world into a bright future, and we call on you all to become visionaries.

This event is also a book launch for a new poetry anthology, OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM, edited by Jack Hirschman and John Curl, of the poems to be read at this event.

OVERTHROWING CAPITALISM, A Symposium of Poets, published by the REVOLUTIONARY POETS BRIGADE, 2014, 150 pages, $9.95, Kallatumba Press ISBN-13: 978-1502304520

 eBook Kindle $2.99

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speakers:

Kiilu Nyasha  is a revolutionary journalist and former member of the Black Panther Party. She currently writes for online publications, feeds the internet, and produces/hosts the bimonthly program, Freedom Is  Constant Struggle on BAVC Commons TV.

 Jerry Mander is an activist and author, best known for Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. His most recent book, The Capitalism Papers, is about the momentous and unsolvable environmental and social problem of capitalism.

Arnoldo Garcia is a poet-organizer and human rights artist, building power for community, land & the natural world answering: what is to be done?

Tony Serra  is a so-called radical criminal defense attorney.  He has represented anti-establishment ideologies embedded in his cases for more than 50 years.  Further, he describes himself as a “de facto” Marxist.

Nancy Mancias is an anti-war advocate and a  campaign organizer for CODEPINK. She has been actively trying to bring the troops home has been part of the movement against torture  and for accountability for war crimes, overseeing the Justice For All campaign.

Sandy Perry is an activist for housing justice, economic human rights, and a more just world. He is Secretary of Housing for the Green Shadow Cabinet, and an organizer for the Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara County.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can find more information the Revolutionary Poets Brigade at our web sites:   and

Cosponsored by the World Poetry Movement

 

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Feast of St. Rafael Archangel

---------En la fiesta antigua
-------de San Rafael Arcángel


Ángel, un poeta me dijo
que tu raza era terrible,
-----pero tus dedos son suaves
-----sobre mis cicatrices,
---------tu bálsamo de luz de pez
---------en la luna plena de octubre
---------escurre dulzura.

Tal vez sea porque
ya no me importa
luchar —
----------consolar, en vez,
----------acariciar las plumas ojosas
----------de tus alas.



-------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2014

San Rafael Arcángel, Mexico, early 19th century

------------On the Old Feast
--------of St. Rafael Archangel


Angel, a poet told me
your kind was terrible,
----but your fingers are gentle
----on my scars,
---------your balsam of fish light
---------on the full moon of October
---------drips sweetness.

Perhaps it is because
I no longer care
to wrestle —
---------------caress, instead,
---------------stroke the eyed pinions
---------------of your wings.



-------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2014

---(Metamorfosis, vol. III no. II vol. IV no. I;
----------------author’s copyrights)

Na festa Antiga de S. Rafael Arcanjo



Anjo, um poeta me dissera
que tua raça era terrível,
-----porém teus dedos são suaves
-----sobre as minhas cicatrizes.
------------Teu bálsamo de luz de pez,
------------Numa lua cheia de outubro,
------------escorre doçura.

Talvez seja porque
já não me importa
lutar
-------consolar e sim,
-------acariciar as plumas com olhos
-------de tuas asas.



-------------------- © Rafael Jesús González 2014


Tradução:
© Clevane Pessoa de Araújo Lopes 2007
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil.
(25/10/2007)
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Alameda Island Poets reading November 5th

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a reading featuring
 
Jannie Dresser

&

Rafael Jesús González


 Wednesday,  November 5, 2014

7:00 - 9:00 pm



1344 Park St.

Alameda, California

 
  An open mic  follows featured readers.

Admission Free

parking is available in the public lot corner of Oak St. and Central Street 

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Scorpio

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-
---------Escorpión

El alacrán
---en sus ojos de ópalo
---guarda los secretos
---del agua inmóvil.
Eleva, tenaz, su cola de hierro
y su aguijón de topacio
refleja las luces rojas de Marte,
---las luces obscuras de Plutón.
Se esconde detrás del palo erecto,
------en la cueva húmeda;
y sabe los secretos del alma.



----------------© Rafael Jesús González 2014


----------------Scorpio

The scorpion
-----in its opal eyes
-----guards the secrets
-----of the immobile water.
It tenaciously raises its tail of iron
& its topaz sting reflects
----the red lights of Mars,
----the dark lights of Pluto.
It hides behind the erect pole,
---in the moist cave;
it knows the secrets of the soul.



-----------------© Rafael Jesús González 2014
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Richmond Poetry Action 10/24

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Richmond Poets & Artists in support of the

Richmond Progressive Alliance

featured poets include

Daniel Ari, Rebecca Auerbach,
Rafael Jesús González,
Rachel Levy, Alan Phillips
& Lincoln Bergman
Richmond Poet Laureate

Open mic to follow featured readers

Friday, October 24, 2014

7:00 - 9:00 PM

The Bobby Bowens Progressive Center

1021 Macdonald (near Harbour)

Richmond, California 

Your suggested donation of $10-15
will help elect Team Richmond:
Gayle Mclaughlin, Jovanka Beckles,
and Eduardo Martínez

No one turned away for lack of funds

Art by Richmond and San Francisco Bay Area artists
will be displayed and available for sale
with sale proceeds supporting the RPA

Battling the dirty giant 

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 --

Día de la Raza / Columbus Day

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El 12 de octubre es fiesta conocida en varias regiones y épocas por muchos nombres: Día de Colón, Día del descubrimiento, Día de la hispanidad, Día de las Américas, Día de la raza, Día de los pueblos indígenas.

En México en 1928 a la insistencia del filósofo José Vasconcelos, entonces Ministro de Educación, se le nombró Día de la Raza, denominación de la Unión Ibero-Americana en 1913 para declarar una nueva identidad formada del encuentro de los Españoles y los indígenas de las Américas. En 1902 el poeta mexicano Amado Nervo había escrito un poema en honor del Presidente Benito Juárez (indio zapoteca) que recitó en la Cámara de Diputados, titulado La Raza de Bronce alabando a la raza indígena, título que más tarde en 1919 el autor boliviano Alcides Arquedas daría a su libro. El bronce (metal noble fundido de varios metales) llegó a ser metáfora del mestizaje. Según el pensar de Vasconcelos una Raza Cósmica, la raza del porvenir, es la raza noble que se forma en las Américas a partir del 12 de octubre de 1492, la raza del mestizaje, un amalgama de las razas indígenas de las Américas, de los Europeos, los Africanos, los Asiáticos, las razas mundiales — en una palabra, la raza humana compuesta de una mezcla de todas las razas que Vasconcelos denominó la Raza Cósmica.


Pero no se puede ignorar que esta raza ideal se forma a gran costo de los pueblos indígenas Americanas (y de la gente africana traídos aquí como esclavos). Desde 2002, en Venezuela se le llama a la fiesta Día de la Resistencia Indígena.

Sea como sea, por cualquier nombre que le demos, de cualquier modo que la cortemos, es la misma torta — la fecha conmemora la llegada de los Europeos a América (que para ellos era un “nuevo mundo”), no una visita sino una invasión, un genocidio, subyugación de las gentes de ese “nuevo mundo” que hoy conocemos por el nombre de un cartógrafo Europeo que apenas pisó el suelo sagrado de los continentes que llevan su nombre. Lo que marca la fecha es una continua colonización, explotación, abuso, ultraje de los pueblos indígenas de las Américas que escasamente ha menguado, que ha persistido estos quinientos años y más.

Bien se le pudiera nombrar Día de la Globalización. A partir de ese día se comprueba concreta y definitivamente que la Tierra verdaderamente es redonda, una esfera, una bola, un globo. Y desde esa fecha se les trata imponer forzosamente a las gentes indígenas del “nuevo mundo” una cosmología, actitud bastante extraña hacia a la vida, hacia a la Tierra, hacia a la economía, hacia a lo sagrado, hacia al ser humano mismo — una sola verdad estrecha e intolerante, un desdén rapaz hacia la Tierra vista solamente como un recurso para explotarse, un concepto del progreso difícil de distinguir de la codicia y el hambre del poder.

La causa de los indígenas clama por justicia: se les sigue robando sus tierras y terrenos, se los destruyen por sus valiosas maderas y minerales; sus creaciones agrícolas, tal como el maíz y la papa, que han salvado del hambre a gran parte del mundo, se modifican al nivel molecular y se controlan por corporaciones rapaces; sus medicinas tradicionales se patentan por esas mismas corporaciones; el agua sagrada misma se privatiza y se les roba; aun no se les respeta el derecho a sus creencias y culturas. Aun poniendo al lado la justicia, todos deberíamos aliarnos a las gentes indígenas de las Américas (y del mundo entero) en su resistencia contra tal abuso porque lo que los amenaza a ellas nos amenaza a todos en el mundo entero — y a la Tierra misma. Tienen muchísimo que enseñarnos acerca de una relación sana del hombre con la Tierra.

En una Tierra, mucho más chica y frágil de lo que imaginábamos, nos encontramos en plena globalización y pugna contra la imposición de un capitalismo desenfrenado y del fascismo, su lógica extensión, que lo acompaña. Sigue la resistencia indígena que jamás ha cesado durante estos cinco siglos y algo a pesar de una represión brutal y ahora todos nosotros de la raza cósmica de mera necesidad debemos aliarnos a su lucha, pues esa lucha es nuestra de todos si hemos de sobrevivir en la Tierra, bendita madre de nuestra estirpe, la estirpe de la raza humana — y de toda nuestra parentela los otros animales, las plantas, los minerales. En la Tierra redonda y sin costura son ficticias las fronteras y lo que amenaza a unos nos amenaza a todos. Pensar al contrario no es solamente inmoral sino locura.

Berkeley, California, 12 de octubre 2007

© Rafael Jesús González 2014

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-October 12 is a feast-day known in various regions and times by many names: Columbus Day, Discovery Day, Hispanic Culture Day, Day of the Americas, Day of the Race, Day of the Indigenous Peoples.

In Mexico in 1928 at the insistence of the philosopher José Vasconcelos, then Minister of Education, it was named Día de la Raza (Day of the Race), denomination of the Iberian-American Union in 1913 to declare a new identity formed by the encounter of the Spaniards with the native peoples of the Americas. In 1902, the Mexican poet Amado Nervo had written a poem in honor of the President Benito Juárez (a Zapoteca Indian), which he read in the House of Representatives, titled La Raza de Bronce (Race of Bronze) praising the indigenous race, title which later in 1919 the Bolivian author Alcides Arquedas would give his book. Bronze (noble metal amalgamated of various metals) came to be metaphor for mestizaje (the mixing of the races.) According to the thinking of Vasconcelos, a Cosmic Race, the race of the future, is the noble race that is formed in the Americas since October 12, 1492, the race of mestizaje, an amalgam of the indigenous races of the Americas, the Europeans, the Africans, the Asians, the world — in a word, the human race made of a mixture of all the races which Vasconcelos called the Cosmic Race.
 


But that this race is formed at great cost to the indigenous American peoples (and to the African peoples brought here as slaves) cannot be ignored. Since 2002, in Venezuela the feast-day is called Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance.)

Be that as it may, by whatever name we give it, however way we cut it, it is the same cake — the date commemorates the arrival of the Europeans to America (which for them was a “new world”), not a visit but an invasion, a genocide, a subjugation of the peoples of that “new world” which we know today by the name of a European cartographer who scarcely set foot on the sacred ground of the continents that bear his name. What the date marks is a continuous colonization, exploitation, abuse, outrage of the indigenous peoples of the Americas that has scarcely lessened, that has persisted these five-hundred and some years.

of the Dutchman Theodore de Bry (16th cent.), on his visit to La Española;

in the Most Brief Report of the Destruction of the Indies

by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas

It could well be called Day of Globalization. Since that date, the Earth is concretely, definitively proven to be truly round, a sphere, a ball, a globe. And from that date is imposed by force upon the indigenous American peoples a quite strange cosmology, attitude toward life, toward the Earth, toward economics, toward the sacred, toward the human being him/herself — a single truth narrow and intolerant, a rapacious disdain toward the Earth seen only as a resource to be exploited, a concept of progress difficult to distinguish from greed and the lust for power.

The cause of the indigenous peoples screams for justice: their lands, their fields continue to be stolen from them, destroyed for their valuable woods and minerals; their agricultural creations, such as maize and the potato, which have saved a great part of the world from famine, are modified at the molecular level and controlled by rapacious corporations; their traditional medicines are patented by those same corporations; sacred water is privatized and stolen from them; even their right to their own beliefs and cultures is not respected. Even putting justice aside, we should all ally ourselves with the indigenous peoples of the Americas (and of the entire world) in their resistance against such abuse because what threatens them threatens us all throughout the whole world — and the Earth itself. They have a very much to teach us about a healthy relationship of humankind with the Earth.

In an Earth much smaller and more fragile than we imagined, we find ourselves in full globalization and struggle against the imposition of an unbridled capitalism and the fascism, its logical extension, that accompanies it. The indigenous resistance that has never ceased these five centuries and some continues in spite of a brutal repression and now all of us of the cosmic race, of pure necessity, must align ourselves with their struggle, for that struggle is ours if we are to survive on the Earth, holy mother of our race, the human race — and of all our relations, the other animals, the plants, the minerals. On the round, seamless Earth all borders are fictitious and what threatens one threatens all. To think otherwise is not only immoral but insane.

Berkeley, California, October 12, 2007

© Rafael Jesús González 2014

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