Wasted on the young...

Michael Sedano

Love…
…is wasted on the young
…is never having to say you’re sorry
…is a many-splendoured thing
…peace happiness
…for sale

…is in the air this time of year. With St. Valentine’s Day just around the corner, La Bloga’s On-Line Floricanto this week features love poems.

Can one ever have enough love, or enough love poems? I hold on to my all-time choices for best love poems that include Yeats and Ina Cumpiano. Today, Francisco Alarcón and moderators of the Facebook poetry site, Poets Responding to SB 1070, advance thirteen poems we hope enhance your Valentine enjoyment.

1. "Attended Only by the Crescent Moon" by Hedy Treviño

2. "I Love Love" by Savannah Treviño Casias

3. "100 Words Over How I Don't Bear A Grudge For the Heart" by Lorna Dee Cervantes

4. "Of Water and Salt" by Odilia Galván Rodríguez

5. "For My Love on Our 40th Anniversary" by Elena Díaz Björkquist

6. "Thursday" by Andrea Hernandez Holm

7. "Homenaje a La Mujer Araña" por Abel Salas

8. "Dialectics of Love / Dialética del amor" by Francisco X. Alarcón

9. "Pray For Heartbreak" by Meg Withers

10. "Algo de ti / Something about You" by Avotcja Jiltonilro

11. "There's Another Wall in the World" by ElizaBeth Benson

12."Bride With an Hourglass" by Victor Avila

13. "Regalo de luna" por Margarita Robleda


Attended Only by the Crescent Moon

by Hedy Garcia Treviño


I rose upon the hill that day
to find my heart asunder

Your love remains upon my lips
and whispers when I slumber

I see your face in passing clouds
there where mountains meet the sky

Attended by a single star
I barred the windows to my heart

I found my way through darkened clouds
and winter knew my name

I rode for decades through the fog
attended only by the moon

I climbed upon the folded wings
of angels in despair

At last redeemed by falling stars
past the fog I found the door

Returned I was to the land of the elders
the shadow offered to the sky

And in the embers of redemption
I found the strength to fly

H. Garcia Treviño





I Love Love

by Savannah Treviño-Casias


Love is a wonderful thing
It makes me want to sing
Smile and be happy

Love is something everyone has inside
Love has always existed
Love will go on forever
In our minds, in our souls, our lives, and in our hearts
until the end of time.

I love love, it is a part of who I am.
I am a loving person.

I love all my family, friends, pets, and this wonderful life I have.

This world we all live in can sure use some more love.

Let us the people of the world love ourselves and each other.

Love is power
A power that can change the world for the better.
And we the people should take the power of love and lead the world out of the shadows
and into the light that will shine upon us all, because love can heal the world.

Love is great, powerful, amazing, and wonderful
I will forever, love love.

By Savannah Treviño-Casias
1/21/11



100 Words Over How I Don’t Bear A Grudge for the Heart

by Lorna Dee Cervantes


I don't carry a grudge
against the government.
I have the nation of you.
I have your hands and
what they can do. I have
the heart of you—special
core of your purpose and
power. I have the gift
of your sweat stained sage,
your hummingbird's bliss,
sanctuary that you would find
in me. I don't carry
a grudge for any mortal. I
have the fire of you.
I don't bear a grudge for the stars,
the shifting planets,
sea's repel and contract, all
those contracts of amor,
broken and otherwise. I have
this treaty with the heart.

© Lorna Dee Cervantes

from CIENTO: 100 100-Word Love Poems forthcoming this Fall from Wings Press, http:www.wingspress.com
100 copies of a special Valentine's Day edition, CIENTO POR CIEN, designed, published and hand-sewn by Lorna Dee Cervantes, are now available for $100. 3181 Mission St., #16; San Francisco, CA 94110 or paypal. LornaDeeCervantes@mac.com




Of Water and Salt

by Odilia Galván Rodríguez


there are places that hold echoes
shining resonances of us
as tender green lovers
sonorous reflections still alive like
your footfalls dancing away from me
in fading winds still ringing with that sadness
but this time when you kiss me
I do not want you to close your eyes
as if to dream me
no dreams of then or now
I want to fall far into eternity
of the dark in your eyes and feel you
the you I have always known
the you from the echoes of creation and
remember
when we embraced for the first time
as creatures of water and of salt

© Odilia Galván Rodríguez

FOR MY LOVE ON OUR 40TH ANNIVERSARY

by Elena Díaz Bjorkquist


They said we wouldn’t last
Wouldn’t stand the test.
Too different –
Different cultures,
Different religions;
You, Swedish Lutheran
I, Mexican Catholic.
Worlds apart they said,
It will never work.

Yet here we are,
Forty years later;
Together like two redwood trees
Grown closer over the years,
Trunks apart but branches, roots and
Hearts entwined.

We gave life to three,
They in turn to five.
Nuestra familia, our family,
The legacy of our love.

* Written for our 40th year together, this year celebrating our 47th anniversary!



Thursday

by Andrea Hernandez Holm


I don’t love you
with diamonds
Or roses
Or fancy dinners
At restaurants
with dress codes.

I love you
Praying in the kitchen
Calling First Man
And First Woman
To protect our son
And then taking him outside
To play a quick game of football
Before dinner.

copyright 2010





HOMENAJE A LA MUJER ARAÑA

por Abel Salas

En esa curva profunda
donde tu espalda café se
Une con tu cadera, en el
Ombligo sereno de tu
Herencia nacida en el
Cañon de cobre y tanto
Lenguaje de antepasados
En el dolor que nace en el
Cuerpo como memoria
De piel, hueso y músculo
Doy gracias y no falto de
Agradecer el haber podido
Renacer en esa alegría
De un hijo de la tierra
Quien aún todavía no
Deja de acariciar cada
Letra, cada palabra y
Cada sentimiento como
Verdadero sacramento
Cuyo reflejo es tu manera
De terminar mis frases
Acabar mis pensamientos
Y vocalizar los mismos
Impulsos de celebrar
La vida y nuestra madre
aquella de agua bendita
la bella hermana de la luna




DIALECTICS OF LOVE

by Francisco X. Alarcón


to the world
we are nothing
but here together
–you and I–
are the world


DIALÉCTICA DEL AMOR

por Francisco X. Alarcón


para el mundo
no somos nada
pero aquí juntos
–tú y yo–
somos el mundo





Pray For Heartbreak

by Meg Withers


Why not the small hammer and anvil
of the heart, which will only
continue to build its sheaths
of ridiculous excuses and defenses?

When the sweet, frosted skin,
the meaty flesh of grapes
becomes delight
only upon crushing?





ALGO DE TI

por Avotcja Jiltonilro


Tu pelo,
Abrazando su propia negrura
Como el color de medianoche en la manígua
Tu ser,
Un cuento vestido en sabiduría anciana
Una sabiduría agridulce
Sabiduría con sabor a colores de miles de flores
Bestial y arrogante
Una seda desenvoltura
A la vez inmóvil, pero misteriosa
Y como la noche de luna
Esclava de nadie
Eternamente libre como el viento
¿Y Otoño?
Siempre hay otoño,
Riendo, llorando, y bailando
En la negrura de tus ojos Indios
Tus ojos sabios
Tus ojos orgullosos
Tus pies ya caminaron por unos miles de siglos
En las tierras de tres continentes
Por los sueños de los afortunados
Por las pesadillas de los que nos engañan
Y porque tu eres quien eres tu,
Crecen las flores donde caminaste
Los Dioses me dicen
Que tu piel tiene el sabor de miel salvaje
Mientras que el viento canta tu nombre
Como yo ..… como yo
Y tu eres el color de amor
El color Moreno
El color prieto
El color Indio
El color de mi felicidad
El color de amor ….. eres tu

Copyright © Avotcja

SOMETHING ABOUT YOU

Your hair,
Embracing its own blackness
Like the color of a jungle midnight
Your being,
A story dressed in ancient wisdom
A bittersweet wisdom
Wisdom that
Tastes like the colors of thousands of flowers
Arrogant & wild
A smooth flowing freedom
That's at the same time stubborn, but mysterious
And like the moonlight
A slave of nobody
Infinitely free just like the wind
And Autumn?
Autumn is always laughing, crying & dancing
In the blackness of your Indian eyes
Your wise eyes
Your proud eyes
Your feet have walked
Through thousands of centuries
On the lands of three continents
Through the dreams of the fortunate
Through the nightmares of those who deceive us
And because you are who you are,
Wherever you’ve walked flowers grow
The Gods tell me,
That your skin tastes like wild honey
While even the wind sings your name
And so do I ….. so do I
And you are the color of love
The color brown
Very dark brown
A dark red Indian brown
The color of my happiness
You ….. are the color of love!

Copyright © Avotcja





THERE IS ANOTHER WALL IN THE WORLD

by ElizaBeth Benson


they are always love poems
always separations of lovers
...
on one side
and then the other
and all the eventual gunmen
are cupids...
shooting arrows
that activate enough hearts
to eventually tear the thing down
it's the love story of berlin
of the wailing wall in jerusalem
of the great wall of china, visible from the moon
these edifices
with cracks in them
where notes get passed
from one side
to the other
calling for the heart
that beats in every chest
to tear it down

even before it is built




Bride With An Hourglass

by Victor Avila


Staring through midnight
into the wash of streetlamps and rain,
I wait anxious to be led away
to your green chamber
where intoxicated peacocks and damp orchids thrive.

With the eyes of an owl
I desire the darkness where I once beheld
my bride with an hourglass
veiled in lace from Philomel's loom.

Against the window I count taps of rain.
Tonight caps of mushrooms are rising
compelled by the sliver of a grinning wide moon.

Grains of sand cascade through the glass.
Veils take on a definite form.
Or rather I hope it's you.
I think of a beach where shells never wash upon shore.

Outside, drenched horses stand beneath the willow.

Approaching are steps.
They are one's thought heard only in sleep.
Through my door left ajar I smell humid orchids.
And yes...at last your fingers
as quiet and as stray as a confessional whisper.

I've oceans of desire inside of me.
For only a second they stand still-
Abandoned by waves and forgotten by storms.





Regalo de luna

por Margarita Robleda


¿La viste?
Le pedí que se colara llena
por el balcón
de tu ventana
para vestirtr de luz
y acariciarte despacito,
palmo a palmo,
pra diluirte
las penas.

¿La sentiste?
Le rogué
te hiciera el amor
de igual manera
en mueve las mareas.
electrifica relEampagos, hila las sedas.
Le pedí que te colmara
con la paz y el gozo,
con la alegría
que tú me das
cuando eres tú,
mi mejor regalo,
quien se cuela
por mi reja.





BIOS

1. "Attended Only by the Crescent Moon" by Hedy Treviño
2. "I Love Love" by Savannah Treviño Casias
3. "100 Words Over How I Don't Bear A Grudge For the Heart" by Lorna Dee Cervantes
4. "Of Water and Salt" by Odilia Galván Rodríguez
5. "For My Love on Our 40th Anniversary" by Elena Díaz Björkquist
6. "Thursday" by Andrea Hernandez Holm
7. "Homenaje a La Mujer Araña" por Abel Salas
8. "Dialectics of Love / Dialética del amor" by Francisco X. Alarcón
9. "Pray For Heartbreak" by Meg Withers
10. "Algo de ti / Something about You" by Avotcja Jiltonilro
11. "There's Another Wall in the World" by ElizaBeth Benson
12."Bride With an Hourglass" by Victor Avila
13. "Regalo de luna" por Margarita Robleda

Odilia Galván RodríguezOdilia Galván Rodríguez, is a poet/activist and healer. She has been involved in social justice organizing and helping people find their creative and spiritual voice for over two decades. Odilia is a moderator and one of the founding members of Poets Responding to SB 1070.


Elena Díaz Björkquist
Elena Díaz Björkquist, a writer, historian, and artist from Tucson, writes about Morenci, Arizona where she was born. She is the author of two books, Suffer Smoke and Water from the Moon. Elena has been on the Arizona Humanities Council (AHC) Speakers Bureau for ten years performing as Teresa Urrea in a Chautauqua living history presentation, and doing presentations about Morenci, Arizona and also the 1880’s Schoolhouse in Tubac.
Elena is co-editor of Sowing the Seeds, una cosecha de recuerdos, an anthology written by her writers group. The project was funded by AHC. She is nearing completion of another collection of Morenci stories entitled Albóndiga Soup and is co-editing a new anthology entitled Our Spirit, Our Reality; our life experiences in stories and poems by the Comadres of Sowing the Seeds.

A SIROW Scholar at the University of Arizona, Elena conducted an oral history project funded by AHC; “In the Shadow of the Smokestack.” A website she created contains the oral history interviews and photographs of Chicano elders living in Morenci during the Depression and World War II. Another project funded by AHC and the Stocker Foundation is “Tubac 1880’s Schoolhouse Living History Program.” Her website is www.elenadiazbjorkquist.net/.
Elena is one of the poet moderators for the Facebook page “Poets Responding to SB1070.


Francisco X. AlarcónFrancisco X. Alarcón, award winning Chicano poet and educator, is author of twelve volumes of poetry, including, From the Other Side of Night: Selected and New Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002), and Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation (Chronicle Books 1992) His latest book is Ce•Uno•One: Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press 2010). His book of bilingual poetry for children, Animal Poems of the Iguazú (Children’s Book Press 2008), was selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association. His previous bilingual book titled Poems to Dream Together (Lee & Low Books 2005) was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award. He has been a finalist nominated for Poet Laureate of California in two occasions. He teaches at the University of California, Davis. He created a new Facebook page, POETS RESPONDING TO SB 1070


Meg WithersMeg Withers teaches English at Merced Community College, Los Banos (please put in a tilde over the n for me - I can't figure out how to do it in emails) campus. She earned an MA and MFA degrees from San Francisco State University, a BA in English Literature at Notre Dame de Namur, and has a specialization in teaching reading and learning from CSU Fullerton. She grew up in California, but has been a vagabond most of her life. She is an ardent civil rights activist, a supporter of the UFW, and unions in general, and focuses most of her classes on the topics of poverty and the disenfranchisement of the poor and minorities in particular. She is a product of community colleges, having attended six of them over the course of 35 years, in 3 states, and believes firmly that the opportunity to have a better life came directly from having attended community and state colleges. She loves her family, her friends, and her warm fuzzercat, Fred-O the Fuzzerman.

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for (all people).”- Horace Mann

Avotcja JiltonilroAvotcja is a unique voice among our poets, musicians, playwrights and other creative folk today. She combines a fierce, persistent and consistent passion for justice with a beauty of words, sounds and image that can take your breath away. To put it simply, Avotcja is a national and international treasure.
• Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez, activist, author, educator

Victor AvilaVictor Avila is a California educator, poet and songwriter. He is a winner of the Chicano Literary Prize for poetry and a frequent contributor to Ghoula Comix.

Margarita RobledaMargarita Robleda, es compositora, escritora, cantante, fotógrafa y poeta.Cuenta con 100 canciones y 110 libros publicados, para niños y niñas, en México, Colombia y los Estados Unidos. Varias editoriales de este país, incluyeron sus cuentos dentro de sus programas de lectura para los programas bilingues por lo que con frecuencia es invitada a impartir talleres y conferencias a niños, padres y maestros. En la actualidad, vive en Mérida Yucatan México pero en su infancia pasaba largas temporadas en casa de sus abuelos en San Antonio Texas, por lo que se presenta como: I´m bilingual, bi cultural, but most of all, bi heart!