***For Mom:
(b. 1925; d.2016)**
She held on to the sunlight
longer than anyone thought.
Palms swayed as she breathed
in all her strength,
all her power
until it all calmed
peacefully,
serenely.
Night cooled
as barren
descends, now
a dark that sings no stars
or sweet songs of life.
Her last breath
carried by crows
brushed across my cheek quietly
as I did not get to her in time.
As my sorrow fingered with my heart,
I saw the hungry abyss descend with her smile,
Still I heard in her whisper,
“do not mourn for me,
like our ancestors before,
I have found the balance
in natural tones;
in the music of stars
and in the songs playing
on Owl’s wings.
Do not mourn for me, my loves
I am alive still in the flow of worlds.”
There is a weight
taller than Denali;
heavier than Big Mountain;
I carry it with me
in my back pack
next to my jeans and dreams
as I follow her tracks,
smiling with her life.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 12.29.16*
For all of you who "liked" and or commented on this poem I thank you from the bottom of my heart... your words are a comfort to me and my dad (I showed him the comments)... you have touched us deeply... I hope all of you the best...
And Nagi, you are wonderful in your kindness and a special thanks for shinning a "light" on this poem....
Curt
Jan 16, 2017
Jan 16, 2017 at 12:24 PM UTC
*I Was Told
Well, I was told,
but who listens
when a heart is on fire.
I was warned
but you turned me to ash,
and I burnt so passionately
in your arms.
There’s a fiery madness here
found in your silent words
and I was warned
your touch would freeze
my heart in frost bitten sanity.
But it doesn’t matter
as this madness swallowed me whole
and I need to know
are you real;
do you care?
Or am I
just the ash falling
from your fingertips,
like a smoking cigarette
still burning in madness.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 12.8.16*
Jan 16, 2017
Jan 16, 2017 at 12:17 PM UTC
*Mother Is A Song
I was born on the wind
swirling through tall trees,
downstream fed valleys
into open, high grass plains
where nights twinkle stars
and days are a warm yellow
because Mother is a song.
I was raised on her voice,
carried by wrens’ wings,
spoken in blue jay chatter
that told of black soil
giving life to African Violets
sprinkled neath tall Sequoia
as each word whispered her name,
cause Mother was a song
and I was born
to be her singer.
She often spoke in violins
sounding like a fast-moving rill
cascading over smooth rock
and deep cello metaphor
dancing gleefully through
the eons old gorge
while oboeing calmly
toward the delta’s sea.
Her seas, symphonies of blue-green
waves playing with whale pod sonatas,
dolphin leaping concertos
as clown fish nestle among coral
listening to tides and meter
where all life began
and now witnessing death.
Mother is a song
and I am born on her cymbals,
loud and angry like thunder;
raised to be her lightning singer.
Mother is a song
no one listens to anymore.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 11.30.16
(NOTE: an ode to the large death of coral in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef due to rising sea temperatures and pollution)*
Jan 16, 2017
Jan 16, 2017 at 12:07 PM UTC
Some people say and will say, let us unite and heal. Unite round what exactly? Fascism?? This is at best a pipe dream and in reality a nightmare for billions of people everywhere on the planet. There can be and there should be no unity with fascists and a program of global violence and destruction (already under way for several centuries now).. An historical reference: People who say this are actually saying "be good Germans" do not protest or resist the death camps and slaughter of Jews and others. Their cry: "Uber Germany - Uber Alles" - "God, Fatherland, and Motherhood". In our case 2016, it is non whites, Black, Muslims, Mexicans, GLTQ people, women and abortion rights, and the environment that will be the targets of this "resurrent America"... and why would anyone want to "unite " with this?? In the name of humanity, I will not unite, collaborate, conciliate, nor capitulate to a fascist America.
In this light I offer a statement / message that is being distributed throughout this country and where ever people are protesting and resisting, including to people in other countries who are looking to us to see what we will do. Here is the link:
http://www.revcom.us/a/464/in-the-name-of-humanity-we-refuse-to-accept-a-fascist-america-en.html
While I encourage everyone to read by following the link, I am also going to post the message below.
**In the Name of Humanity,
We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America
Rise Up... Get Into The Streets... Unite With People Everywhere
to Build Up Resistance in Every Way You Can
Don’t Stop: Don’t Conciliate... Don’t Accommodate... Don’t Collaborate**
Donald Trump has now won the presidency. Under the slogan “Make America Great Again,” he has viciously attacked Mexicans and Muslims, threatened to deport millions and boasted that he will build walls and close borders. He incites people to fear and hate those who are “different,” or who come from other countries or nationalities, or practice different religions. He crudely demeans and degrades women, and openly boasts about molesting them. He’s a champion of white supremacy who has insulted and threatened Black people, and whipped up a racist lynch-mob mentality. Trump has mocked the disabled. He is an aggressive and unapologetic militarist, who threatens to use nuclear weapons and will have his fingers on the nuclear codes. He openly advocates war crimes and crimes against humanity"including torture and killing the families of people accused of terrorism. He plans to pack the Supreme Court with justices who will gut and reverse the right to abortion, gay rights, and other important legal rights. He calls climate change a hoax and his policies will wreak further devastation on the environment. He has attacked and threatened the press and stirred up his supporters to do the same. Trump has utter contempt for facts and the truth, and consistently lies to advance his agenda. As for the rule of law, Trump went so far as to openly threaten his opponent, Hillary Clinton, not only with jail, but even assassination. Donald Trump is an outright fascist. And he is now the president-elect.
Fascism is a very serious thing. Fascism foments and relies on xenophobic nationalism, racism, and the aggressive reinstitution of oppressive “traditional values.” Fascism feeds on and encourages the threat and use of violence to build a movement and come to power. Fascism, once in power, essentially eliminates traditional democratic rights. Fascism attacks, jails, and executes its opponents, and launches violent mob attacks on “minorities.” In **** Germany in the 1930s and ’40s, under ****** fascism did all these things. They imprisoned millions in concentration camps and exterminated millions of Jews, Roma people (Gypsies), and other “undesirables.” And ****** did almost all of this through the established institutions and the “rule of law.” This is where this goes. And yes, ****** himself could “talk graciously” when he felt it would serve his interests and lull his opponents.
Trump did not even win the popular vote, (even though he did win the “electoral college” which decides elections in the U.S.). ****** himself came to power through democratic procedures, including through the process of elections. Should people have accepted ****** Unfortunately, they did, at a horrific cost to humanity. Today, with nuclear weapons, that cost could be far higher.
In the name of humanity, we must refuse to accept a fascist America!
The fact that Trump won as many votes as he did must be understood. The fact that he got more than even 10 percent of the vote is disgraceful and reveals some very ugly things about America. So why did this happen? The world today is turbulent, full of changes. Those who supported Trump’s fascist program were overwhelmingly sections of white people, especially but not only white men, who yearn for the days of open white supremacy and American global ********** and the blatant subjugation of women. A significant minority of white people did oppose him, but we have to confront how deep the racism, the national chauvinism, and the hatred of women is woven into this society... and not give in to this, but vigorously challenge and fiercely oppose it.
But even more than this, Trump was backed by powerful forces in this society. Beyond those who directly supported him, the media, the Democratic Party, and others treated him as a legitimate candidate, refused to call him out as the fascist he is, and now call on everyone to accept his ascension to power. All the major powerful forces in this society bear the responsibility"it is they who have, over decades, either built up this fascist force or have “enabled” it.
You cannot try to “wait things out” with fascists. Those who lived through Hitler’s Germany and sat on the sidelines, looking on as ****** rounded up one group after another, became shameful collaborators with monstrous crimes against humanity. Trump and his regime must be resisted and defied, beginning now, in many different ways and in every corner of society.
Reconciliation and collaboration would be nothing less than criminal and deadly. Literally. Come together... resist... and let the whole world know that we will not allow this to stand!
revcom.us
Nov 16, 2016
Nov 16, 2016 at 9:01 AM UTC
*On this Friday night a poem to share with all who wish someone would write them a love poem. Or in some other show of affection give them love and kindness.
Bright Star
by John Keats
Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art —
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priest like task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors —
No — yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft swell and fall,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever — or else swoon to death.
I think if I would write a poem of love for the one I love,
It would be to simply voice softly in her ear, this poem written
by John Keats and given to his love, Fanny Brawne…. redzone to_____,
a softly voiced enchantment in the night’s sky.*
Oct 18, 2016
Oct 18, 2016 at 7:52 AM UTC
*“Once upon a time”:…
or so the stories go;
hell even the Raven’s Poe
used these words:
“once upon a midnight dreary.”
But who is this
knocking at my door?
She was the
once
in my life
and I welcomed her in
once upon a time.
~~~
Upon a time
once
this time curved around her face
touching sweet dimples,
lips upon my finger tips
and felt time
fold in upon itself
endlessly
once.
~~~
Time
Upon a once
raging fire
knocking at my door
promising more….
Now
time upon a once
nevermore.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 10.15.16*
Oct 18, 2016
Oct 18, 2016 at 7:29 AM UTC
Feel
Her season, a sweet nectar,
the fragrance of fresh cut clover
on a Spring day.
She fills rainbows with colors.
She is…. just
arms, legs,
hair and lips,
just kisses and delight
morning, noon and night.
She is… just
Summer heat
swirling Autumn leaves
Winter’s freeze
and a Spring shower with me.
She makes me feel
Everything
In the air she breaths
I see
Everything….
I feel everything!
She is… just
my beloved.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 10.14.16
(Note: still thinking about the music in “Youth” and the movie)
Oct 18, 2016
Oct 18, 2016 at 7:23 AM UTC
*Complete
A song
simple
in the emotions
sung as melodies,
woven
into the fabric of time
drifting along the edges
of a night sky
and into your heart.
A simple song
we are
sung
in widening circles
dance
continuous and complete
in lover’s ache
defined
as in your touch,
fingers speak soliloquy
and I create etudes,
opus and symphony,
my love to you.
We are a simple song,
a rainbow, colorful
complete.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 10.11.16
(Note: written after watching an art film- “Youth)*
Oct 18, 2016
Oct 18, 2016 at 7:15 AM UTC
***Friday Night Music: Part 2
Untamed Heart**
My untamed heart has fallen for you
more than I could ever say,
more than I ever should.
You are my blue moon
on a cloudless night;
you are my peace
soothing this chaotic heart.
And in my dreams
I see your face knowing
“the greatest thing
is to love
and be loved in return”.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 9.30.16*
Oct 1, 2016
Oct 1, 2016 at 12:29 PM UTC
***Friday Night Music Part1
“Cherry Cola”**
A Side:
“ooh I know I want you
don’t know if I need you
but ooh I’d die to find out”
so the song begins
and like “chicka cherry cola”
you came into my life
sweetly
with intoxicating sways
and dragon breathing fire
and I’m inspired to drink
you in some more,
double shot straight up.
B side:
You say-
“come stand a little bit closer
Breath in and get a bit higher”.
Come, find out
What these lips are all about.
Aztec Warrior/redzone 9.30.16
Note: the quoted lines are from the song “I Want You”
By Savage Garden. The song is embedded below*
Oct 1, 2016
Oct 1, 2016 at 12:04 PM UTC