The Border and Migrant Children on My Mind: New Song and Poems

Melinda Palacio

Somewhere in the Sonoran Desert

While I continue to revise my next novel, I am also writing poems and studying music. At first, my guitar practice was intermittent and relegated to when I remembered a song I wanted to learn. Two years ago, I became serious about learning how to play. That's when Steve bought me the beautiful guitar in the photo. I take it everywhere and practice whenever I get a chance, whether we are on the road or at home. I've given a handful of presentations along with my poetry readings, including earlier this year at Pueblo Community Community College, where I sang the Bird Forgiveness theme song, a song I wrote to accompany my latest poetry book, Bird Forgiveness. I never thought my interest in learning guitar would be accompanied by singing and writing songs. Learning music is a never ending rabbit hole because everything is connected and there is so much to learn. Steve used to urge me to write songs because I am a poet and he saw a natural fit. I was skeptical, thought the idea a joke, and laughed it off. Now that I've written several songs, I'm glad I have added another creative outlet to my repertoire.

Many of my recent poems have been about the situation at the border. I keep thinking about the children separated from their families, abused, and jailed. At this moment, I'll hold off on sharing the poems, but will have a follow up post once they are published. However, I can share the song that I wrote. An example of this rabbit hole is how learning the guitar led to learning how to read music and write it. My working title for my new song is All at the Border or When La Llorona Meets the Devil. I don't think I have to spell out who the devil is in this story.

For me songs are stories. La Bloga's own Michael Sedano calls songs Poems with Wings, a fitting description. This song about the border is my newest song. I wanted to wait to share it, but with the latest indignations which included shooting migrants in the legs and moats with alligators, along with current immigration atrocities, I couldn't wait to dress up the song with a more polished production. Let's just say this is a work in progress and very much a first draft. Last month, I sprained my broken ankle and was disabled for several weeks. The good news about being forced to slow down is that the experience produced new writing and a new song. My friend Lora suggested I write a new song during my convalescence, so this one is dedicated to her. I'm glad I didn't spend the entire time bent out of shape because I couldn't walk. I challenged myself with this latest song. I threw in some difficult bar chords. This isn't an easy song to sing either. The production is a video selfie with me singing and playing into the recorder on my iPad. I have yet to fall into the Garage Band black hole or into the art of movie or video making. If there's interest I will post polished versions of this and other songs.

For more information on why Immigration is such an important topic and why we need to celebrate creative contributions in moments of crisis, read about Reyna Grande's literary metamorphosis in her essay, Immigration and Transformation in World Literature Today. Although I am very familiar with Reyna Grande's work and her story, reading her essay inspired me to share this song. Grande says that as a writer she has learned to see writing the way James Baldwin saw it: as a tool to change the way people see the world. "As an artist, I've learned to hear the call to action, to be deeply aware of when our society is in distress, of when human rights are at risk. I've learned that artists do as Toni Morrison once said: 'We speak. We write. We do language and help our civilization heal'." Reyna Grande's words reminded me that the poems and songs pouring out of me lately are a response to our community's collective trauma.


Here's my latest song: All at the Border.

If video is not playing, view on my Youtube channel.

Where Do the Children Play?

Melinda Palacio

 ©2018 Lalo Alcaraz. Cartoon appears courtesy of the artist.

Looming over the joy of my new book, Bird Forgiveness, are the atrocities happening to our country, in our politics, and especially at the border where a zero tolerance policy enacted by Trump has led to severe trauma for babies and children who have been taken from their families and put in camps. Migrating to this country and seeking asylum is not a crime, but in Trump's eyes if a family is from a "shit hole" country then yes, lock them up and forget about where a poor non-english speaking child or baby was sent, and if they die trying to find their child, all the better says the wannabe dictator. This is where we are now. The children have been scattered all over the United States. I want to know why the people in custody of these poor babies don't speak up. They might make a trip to the emergency room where doctors note that these toddlers are not behaving like normal, curious babies. I don't need a medical degree to tell you that children who have been ripped from their mother's arms are not going to act normal.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, mi gente, the readers of La Bloga, but this is what is on my mind lately. While it is important to uphold our way of life and continue to make art, it is equally important to get out there and resist, vote, communicate, and respect existence. Our elders fought too hard to see this country re-institute concentration camps for babies, children, and migrant families seeking asylum.

Tomorrow: Saturday, June 30, Freedom for Families! Abolish ICE March, noon to 3pm, Congo Square Louis Armstrong Park, 701 Rampart Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70116

In Santa Barbara: Saturday, June 30, 11 am De La Guerra Plaza.

Global: Find a march near you, contact moveon.org.

Poetry Equals Power: the Resistance Calls on Poets

Melinda Palacio

Poets Teresa Mei-Chuc and Sojourner Kincaid Rolle at the Los Angeles Women's March

A Charge To Keep In Mind

By Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2015-2017

There is charge to keep.

it covers the tree keepers

and those who seek to cut them down.

It covers the pedi-drivers

and those who ride in limosines.

It covers the harbors and the hillsides

the landmarks and the NIMBY's.

In all its disparate ways,

It covers the voter and the non-voter;

equal status in the public square.

Your charge is to your neighbor

your neighbor’s water

your neighbor's land use and limits

your neighbor's joyful noise

your neighbor's refuse and effuse

your neighbor/s children in the park

your neighbor's safety on the street.

You have a charge to make a way

for walkers, bikers, runners, climbers’

You have a charge to make a place

for swimmers, skaters, dancers, painters.

You have a charge to listen

Be we praisers or critics –

Be we transient or landed

You have a charge to hear us all -

to keep our counsel at heart.

We, the people, are a multitude

many cultures, many creeds, many life ways -

endowed or impoverished, we all marvel at the rainbow.

Today we can begin

to see a new vision

to hear with new understanding

to act in concert toward our common good.

You have a charge to keep.

We have a bond to hold.

*This poem is published in "What Breathes Us" Santa Barbara Poets Laureate 2005-2015 (Gunpowder Press- 2016)

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

WE

By Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

This poem is dedicated to the giant trees in the great ever green forests that populate the lands from sea to shining sea - from the Pacific to the Atlantic to Indian Ocean to the Sea of Galilee - and in particular, to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez and Selma Rubin.

We.

We stand.

We stand tall.

We stand together -

trees in a vast forest

huddled in a great mass.

We are a multitude –

each different and distinct.

We honor our differences.

Where we stand,

our roots sink deep

into the firmament.

We are nurtured.

infused by the ever-flowing

fountain of life.

Endowed with the history of our kind;

our nation, our community, our families,

we learn from the struggles of our forebears.

As we grow, we give back as our ancestors gave;

sacrificing their easy comforts

that future generations together might thrive.

We are our forebears.

We stand in the shadow of their greatness.

We live our lives as their namesakes.

We are the Mahatmas, the Martins,

The Cesars, The Selmas.

We are the guardians of their legacies.

We are the bearers of their flags.

We are the tellers of their stories.

We are the singers of their songs.

We feed the starving.

We clothe the threadbare.

We shelter those who have no home.

We work for change.

We demand justice.

We uplift the downtrodden.

We are the future generations.

We embrace the power of people united.

We will never again be defeated.

In the names of our ancestors,

We stand.

We stand tall.

We stand together.

3/31/12

More Images from the Women's March Santa Barbara edition and a poem to kick off the march.

The video. Hear Melinda Palacio read "The Old Mission's Bell"

before the kickoff to the Women's March, Santa Barbara, Jan 21, 2017. The poem is from

from How Fire Is a Story, Waiting (Tia Chucha Press 2012)
*Thanks to Alison Bailey for the Video

Melinda Palacio
photo by Rod Rolle

Alison Bailey and Melinda Palacio
photo by Rod Rolle