Moe's Books reading Monday September 9

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Iván Argüelles 

& Rafael Jesús González

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Monday, Sep 09, 2019 7:00 PM

Location:
In the basement of the store 2476 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley

 

Iván Argüelles, an innovative Mexican-American poet, is the author of many books of poetry, dating as far back as 1978. Among these are: “That” Goddess; Madonna Septet; Comedy , Divine , The; Orphic Cantos; and, Fragments from a Gone World. His most recent publications are HOIL, and Twilight Cantos. He has received the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America (1989), and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation (2012). A retired librarian, he has resided in Berkeley since 1978.

Rafael Jesús González, Prof. Emeritus of literature and creative writing, was born and raised biculturally/bilingually in El Paso, Texas/Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, and taught at various universities before joining Laney College, Oakland, California where he founded the Dept. of Mexican & Latin-American Studies, Also visual artist, he has exhibited in the Oakland Museum of California, the Mexican Museum of San Francisco, others in the U.S. and Mexico. His collection of poems La musa lunática/The Lunatic Muse was published in 2009 with a second printing in 2010. Nominated thrice for a Pushcart price, he was honored by the National Council of Teachers of English and Annenberg CPB for his writing in 2003. He received the 2012 Dragonfly Press Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement and was honored by the City of Berkeley with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 13th Annual Berkeley Poetry Festival 2015. He was named the first Poet Laureate of Berkeley in 2017.

 

Ugly Beauty reading Saturday, Sept. 7

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César Chávez Library reading Wednesday Sept. 4

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Virgo

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---------------- Virgo



La virgen,
pura como una gota de azogue,
en la cintura un cinturón de zafiros,
reina sobre la tierra mudable.
-------La vigila Mercurio
mientras ella ordena cuidadosamente
las cuentas de cornerina, de sardónica
----en la calma de la noche plena.


----------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2019



 
--------------Virgo
 
The virgin,
pure as a drop of quicksilver,
girdled with sapphires,
reigns over the changing earth.
-------Mercury watches her
as she carefully orders
the beads of carnelian, of sardonyx
-----in the calm of full night.



------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2019
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full moon: Poem of Escape

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------------------------Poema de escape

"Deseamos que la edición poética este año

represente un verdadero escape para nuestros lectores.

Piensa en viaje, lo que está más allá,"

lee el aviso. La imagen lustrosa

de la playa repleta de palmas es tentadora

pero la isla ya no existe; fue tomada

por las aguas crecientes. Entonces Paris pero el calor

es insoportable. En Alaska se derriten los glaciares.

Se hunde Venecia. No es afectado ningún lugar de la Tierra

negarlo como queramos. Piensa escape. La luna plena

más bella que el más lustroso anuncio

en cualquier revista de viaje llama; no tiene agua

que haga tormenta e inundación pero es demás allá y mas

cuando brille el sol puede ser 120º alto

y cuando se ponga 120º bajo. No hay fuga;

lo único que tenemos es la Tierra y no hay escape,

salvo en la imaginación.

              © Rafael Jesús González 2019

 

---------------Poem of Escape

"We want this year's Poetry Edition

to represent a true escape for readers.

Think travel, about what's beyond,"

reads the notice. The glossy picture

of the palm-studded beach is tempting,

but the island is no more; it is taken

by the rising waters. Paris, then, but the heat

is unbearable. In Alaska the glaciers melt.

Venice sinks. No place on Earth is unaffected

deny it as we may. Think escape. The full moon

more beautiful than the glossiest of ads

in any travel magazine beckons; it has no water

to storm & flood, but it is too beyond, & anyway

when the sun shines it can be 250º high

& when it sets, 250º below. There is no get-away;

the Earth is all we have & there is no escape,

save in the imagination.

               © Rafael Jesús González 2019

 

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less than 1000 words

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Leonardo da Vinci wrote that a poet would be "overcome by sleep and hunger before [being able to] describe with words what a painter [photographer] is able to [depict] in an instant." That may be true, but words can serve to draw attention to or remark upon what the picture depicts.

An act of domestic terrorism had just occurred in El Paso, Texas on August 3rd targeting Mexicans and Mexican-Americans killing 22 and leaving dozens others wounded. Among those killed, were a young couple leaving their two-month old infant son orphaned. Five days later, Melania Trump posted on social media the photo above.

In it Trump and Melania (holding the orphaned infant) grin broadly at the camera in the face of such unspeakable tragedy. Trump holds his right hand in front of him in a thumbs-up gesture universally recognized as a sign of satisfaction or approval.

What, one wonders, merits such grins? What does the President's raised thumb endorse or approve? The killing? The terror? (Certainly the manifesto posted by the terrorist of the El Paso massacre echoed the racist sentiments of the President, his words, the same racist terminology.)

Or is it the presence of the two smiling brown faces flanking the presidential couple that gives Trump so much satisfaction? Is it victory that two of the very people he vilifies and disparages are nevertheless his supporters as they avow? (Allegedly so were the young parents of the orphaned child.) The Mexican-American couple are the uncle and aunt of the murdered couple; what cause have they to smile? The uncle is quoted as saying: "I think people are misconstruing President Trump’s ideas." One wonders how Trump's racist ideas and utterances could possibly be misconstrued. The uncle stands there smiling with his hand on Trump's back and has the bare-faced gall to say that "others were politicizing his family's tragedy." The family, they say, wanted to be “politically neutral.”

It is they, the uncle and aunt and their kind that most cause one to wonder (they and the smattering of brown and black faces seen behind Trump at his notorious rallies.) What do they hope to gain or to protect in their support of Trump and his ilk?

In Spanish we have a term for such: "vendidos"  — sell-outs, those who for personal gain or expediency betray the well-being of their people. Need one name such in the Administration, in Congress, in the Supreme Court? Those in our neighborhoods, in our families?

It is a cause for wonder, and uncharitable as it may seem, for shame. The pain, the anger are too much for one to say anything less.

Leonardo da Vinci escribió que un poeta sería "vencido por el sueño y el hambre antes de poder describir con palabras lo que un pintor [fotógrafo] puede representar en un instante." Tal vez será verdad pero las palabras pueden servir para señalar o comentar sobre lo que la imagen representa.

Un acto de terrorismo doméstico había tomado lugar en El Paso, Tejas el 3 de agosto dirigido a mexicanos y a mexicanos estadounidenses matando a 22 personas y dejando docenas más heridos. Entre los muertos fueron una pareja joven dejando a su infante de dos meses huérfano. Cinco días después Melania Trump publicó en las redes sociales la foto de arriba.

En ella Trump y Melania (llevando al niño huérfano) sonríen ampliamente a la cámara ante una tragedia tan atroz. Trump lleva la mano derecha frente a él en un gesto de pulgar hacia arriba universalmente reconocido como seña de satisfacción o aprobación.

¿Qué, se pregunta uno, merecería tales sonrisas? ¿A qué endorsa o aprueba el presidente alzando el pulgar? ¿La matanza? ¿El terror? (Indudablemente el manifiesto  publicado por el terrorista del masacre en El Paso hizo eco de los sentimientos racistas del presidente, sus palabras, la misma terminología racista.)

¿O será la presencia de los dos rostros trigueños a los lados de la pareja presidencial que le da a Trump tanta satisfacción? ¿Será la victoria que dos de las meras personas que denigra y menosprecia son, sin embargo, sus partidarios como lo confiesan? (Supuestamente así lo fueron los padres jóvenes del niño huérfano.) La pareja mexicana estadounidense son los tíos de la pareja asesinada ¿que causa tienen para sonreír? El tío se cita diciendo: "Creo que la gente malinterpreta las ideas del Presidente Trump." Uno se pregunta como posiblemente se pudieran malinterpretar las ideas y declaraciones racistas de Trump. El tío se para allí sonriendo con la mano en la espalda de Trump y tiene el descaro de decir que "otros politizan la tragedia de su familia." La familia, dicen, querían ser “políticamente neutral.”

Son ellos, los tíos y otros como ellos que más lo hacen a uno pensar (ellos y el puñado de rostros morenos y negros vistos detrás de Trump en sus manifestaciones notorias.) ¿Qué esperan conseguir o proteger con su apoyo de Trump y tales como él?

En español tenemos una expresión para tales: "vendidos"  — aquellos que por ganancia personal o por conveniencia traicionan el bien de su gente. ¿Es necesario nombrar tales en la Administración, en el Congreso, en la Corte Suprema? ¿Aquellos en nuestros barrios, en nuestras familias?

Es causa de pensar y, falta de caridad como aparezca, de vergüenza. El dolor, la furia son demasiadas para decir nada menos. 

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Revolution Books reading

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