UNITY and Christmas Mourning Floricantos

Special Double Issue of La Bloga
Floricantos On-Line for the Fallen Souls of Newton

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Somber exhilaration is in the air this week, with La Bloga's continuing exploration of poetry as equipment for living. Christmas changed forever when twenty-six souls disappeared from earth. They were gone, we mystified. It happened in our name, our nation, under our laws. Again. Naturally, we should sing. What more?

Ho Logos stepped out on space, looked around, and said "poor earth, so far from Peace, so close to the United States."

La Bloga this week elegizes the murdered children and their teachers, in two observances. Sunday, Amelia ML Montes teamed with California's Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Guest Editor, Marisa Urrutia Gedney, to present UNITY of Poets for the Children and Families of Newtown, Connecticut—End the Violence. 10 Poems: December 15-December 21, 2012

Navigate to La Bloga-Sunday via this link to read the ten thoughts in entirety, and learn about Herrera's UNITY poem:
When you hustled your baby onto the bus
that morning, it was Friday, the last day

-Nicole Stefanko-Fuentes   

These 26 acts of kindness seem to spark the holiday season,
I think there is a flicker back in my flame.
“Oh, this little light of mine…”

-Melissa Carvalho (Danbury, CT)

20 little snowflakes
Fell to a red-covered ground
Waiting for a bell to ring
They fell without a sound.

-Jocelynn Cortes. 10th grade. Age 15

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Christmas Mourning Floricanto
Today, the Moderators of Poets Responding to SB 1070 share poems, outpourings of grief and love, about the loss of these children. Moderator Elena Bjorkquist writes, "we feel that these poems honor the memory of the innocent children and will help all of us with healing."

Children Fallen: Rise On New Wings, by Frank De Jesus Acosta
The Rosebuds Of Winter by Hedy Garcia Treviño
In The Afetrmath by Kathy Goldenladyhawk Risingdove Robinson
Twenty Angels by Raul Sanchez
When Words Are Just Vibrations, by John Martinez

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CHILDREN FALLEN: RISE ON NEW WINGS
by Frank de Jesus Acosta

Children fallen: to violence, depravity, & war
Newtown, old towns, the world over, far too often
We betray your innocent trust failing to protect
Brutally torn from the flesh by monsters in our midst
Denied the journey of pain & healing from love
Laughter & songs turned screams of terror & tears
I feel you hiding in that place between light & shadow
Afraid, confused, & wandering between worlds
Shrouded heart; words that commune escape us
As we too wander, in suffocating sadness & confusion
Forgive our failure & betrayal, we bare the thorns
Little ones hear our prayers of peace now
Follow the ancestor songs to a new paradise
An eternal circle of love will embrace you from here
There is no more pain & wholeness in the spirit
Walk in beauty; dwell in new joy in a place of peace
A home in the heart of the Creator awaits you


The Rosebuds of Winter
by Hedy Garcia Treviño

There is a special place in the gardens of winter
For young tender rosebuds that fall off the vine
In that empty space we call sorrow
We gather to nurture the rosebuds of time
With showers of tears
And hopeful prayers
We await the abundance of blooms
Returning in springtime
Kissed by the sun
The blossom returns to the ground
To bring life once again to the gardens of time


IN THE AFETRMATH
by Kathy Goldenladyhawk RisingDove Robinson

it is late
and i can not sleep
as my head spins
on the axis
of all evils in
this world.

it is late
and i try to think,
how can i
help to fix
that, which is
so broken.

so, i do now declare,
that in love,
i will love deeper,
in faith,
i will pray harder,
in honor of,
i will seek out the light
and laugh out the dark.
i will sleep less,
and live more,
i will dance, wildly
as the rain
washes away
the sorrows,
of life's brief moments
and stolen memories
and l will listen
with my heart,
and not skip a beat.

oh evils of this world,
oh darkness,
on you i do descend.
i will erase you with kindness,
compassion
and love...
i will challenge
your place
in this world.

twenty new angels
born
to join in the fight
to shine their bright light
and expose all
that is bad
in this world...
as i open my
heart,
and close my eyes
to see.

twenty new angels
to join in the fight
light the spark
to ignite
all the love
that there is
in this world.


TWENTY ANGELS
by Raul Sanchez

In memory of the kids from Sandy Hook Elementary School

Twenty Angels swept away
removed from this earth
senseless violence directed
at children shot point blank

the parents grief unimaginable
what pain to lose a child to violence
Twenty Angels gone, vanished
Twenty future builders of America

Twenty souls gone
Twenty beautiful faces disappeared
Twenty empty beds
Twenty dreams evaporated

no laughter, no Christmas presents
we mourn their death across
the nation, the world
we feel their loss as if they were our own


WHEN WORDS ARE JUST VIBRATIONS
by John Martinez

Nothing makes sense
When a molecule bends
To cough,
Shirking its duty
To life,
When a book falls
To the ground,
Folding into itself,
Leaving only
A blank sadness

Nothing suggests
That we will survive
This terror,
Opening its black
Mouth again
In the classrooms,
Where our children grow
With little root feet

But out of this,
Heroes shielded
Their young,
Gave their lives
To save the very seed-
That is our future,
But some of it
Was lost

When words
Are just vibrations,
Because the wound
Is too deep,
We close our eyes,
Push our hearts
Into the heavens

Today the clouds
Mother the 20 children,
Fixing eternity
In white and blue pajamas,
Their innocence,
Soft as their feet,
Their fear being
Plucked from their hair
Like ash

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BIOS

Children Fallen: Rise On New Wings, by Frank De Jesus Acosta

The Rosebuds Of Winter by Hedy Garcia Treviño

In The Afetrmath by Kathy Goldenladyhawk Risingdove Robinson

Twenty Angels by Raul Sanchez
When Words Are Just Vibrations, by John Martinez

Frank de Jesus Acosta is the principal of Acosta & Associates, a California-based consultant group that specializes in providing professional support related to public and private social change ventures in the areas of children, youth, and family services, violence prevention, community development, cultural fluency initiatives across the country. Acosta is a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Acosta’s professional experience includes serving as a Program Director with The California Wellness Foundation, as well as executive leadership tenures with the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Downtown Immigrant Advocates (DIA), Center for Community Change, and the UCLA Community Programs Office. In 2007, Acosta was published by the Arte Publico Press, University of Houston, “The History of the Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos, Cultura Es Cura, Community Peace Movement.”

Hedy M. Treviño’s poetry has been published in numerous journals and other publications. She has performed her poetry at numerous cultural events. She continues to write poetry, and inspires others to use the written word as a form of self discovery and personal healing. She is one of the Moderators for the Facebook page, Poets Responding to SB 1070

Kathy GoldenLadyHawk RisingDove Robinson is half-Cherokee, from North Bridgton, Maine, a small rural town in the foothills of the White Mountains. She is an aspiring poet/writer...she lives quietly, in harmony with the natural world all around her; here she finds all the inspiration a soul could ask for. One day, she hopes to have a book of poems and writings published.

Raúl Sánchez, conducts workshops on The Day of the Dead. His most recent work is the translation of John Burgess’ Punk Poems in his book Graffito by Ravenna Press. His work appeared on-line in The Sylvan Echo, Flurry, Gazoobitales, Pirene’s Fountain many times in La Bloga and several journals. An avid collector of poetry books proclaimed himself a “thrift store junkie” who occasionally volunteers as a DJ for KBCS 91.3 FM, a community radio station. He has been a board member of the Washington Poets Association. His inaugural collection "All Our Brown-Skinned Angels" by MoonPath Press, is filled with poems of cultural identity, familial, a civil protest, personal celebration, completely impassioned and personal.

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