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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Along The Lines I Lived Myself



Time To Change our World
            There is Nothing that way
                                    Up ahead

Everyday I think of my work
            What I must do with this ordinary day
                                    2 Be Free



I see the way a baby becomes
            First a Man, young and strong
                                    the Way of Grace



Falling into a Dream
            All the Youth keep Asking There
                                    Is Justice?



Certain Decadent Figures
            Hate and Fear their Betters if Women
                                    Take Cover.



Men of Letters you must Discern
            That you enjoy a better  status
                                    Just Sayin’


I have already Fallen too Swiftly
            and learned to Fly UpSide Down
                                    Watch me



There is just a Tiny Bit of theory
            The rest is Fever and Pain
                                    Synaesthetic


The Preposition is always a
            Difficult Change by
                                    Objection



Beauty has no less Purpose
            Than to Kiss her own
                                   Sleeping Body



Another writer had only recently
            Committed suicide
                                    Show concern



Human Beauty is only Complete
            When it Includes all
                                    God’s Children



We are all Children, Brothers
            And Sisters in
                                    God’s Eyes



There were two female bitches
            One smelled flowers
                        One loved the $$$ smell



I was Alone Gathering my Flowers
            When he toook me down
                        To hell



I cried for Myself but Cried
            More for my
                        Flowers


My mother was Unable to
            Cross the Threshold
                        to Release Me


She is Ceres or sERes who gives
             life to Everything 
                      the world growS




        


ReVersereVeR: Poetry is Free



for Burciaga who Cracked the Pin~ata



I’m no Different when I spin.  This is Me.
And now I’d like to try Another Rip.
Take the Word Reverse and Draw it Backwards.
Zing!!  It has a ring and it's Bilingual.
>Reverse Sever ReverseveR Reverse<
The line is Rotating Backwards and Pulling
a Meaning it Pushes as it Loops Thru.
That’s Centrifugal Force--It Lives in You!
Combine the Spinning Words--Up,there you Go,
Up on the Curb.  Weeeee Poetry! The Rap
of our Humanity isn't Private
Property! So come Gentle Gente, Free
or Undocumented, Young and All, Miss-
Labled Tambien.  We are the Poetry
Peeps, Sheeps, and Keepers.  You might Say
we are Pastoral Singers. That’s good Too.
WheehW are Equipped with Technical GLee
by Internal Reversal. Go Use IT!

Transcendentalists in adVerse SeptemIams--For Sor Juana and the WCW's

Transcendentalists in Free Verse SeptemIams (Yes, Dr. Williams, it’s Yours)
Twenty Lines

Removed from the library, I go to the computer screen.
I’m going to say it with 10 Count them 10 sounds
Across—Actually, this is a 14 sound line.  Let’s
Call it the septemeter~~~Wooow, doesn’t it sound something
like September?  tWO WOrds not Particularly Pretty,
see how you can actually cut off letters with a Knife?
So you say that’s a metaphor, these Words aren’t Really
Cut by Nine Knives. I've been Advised that we should get a sense
of how your Ego is Handling this?  Are you Over
Reacting again? What is it Anger? Or Violence
unstrung beyond your Reasoning.  Hate and Fury Precede
WitchHunts, Book Burnings, Censure, and Such.There are some very
Small players in Miniature Dollhouses.  They need Cover.
Such Fine Actors of Hysteria are Vain Uncivil
Educated pawns. They are Multiple 1’s all in Line.
Trigger it And they will Circle, play at Victimizing
fun.  The Silly BoyaBoys Network possesses its Very
own Nifty Vengeance Button. This is where a Damned good
Education Dulls the Bludgeon for they would not wish to
be Caught at it, the Coats, Shirts, and Neckties who throw the Blows.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

My Purse by Gabriela is the Bomb: For Gabriela Cortez-Sweningsen

Gabriela has a Gift for Design,
Crochet, Family, and Management.
She knows How and Why it is At Times
simply Impossible that Life, Love, Rent
have all been Concentrated into One.
“This can’t be True.  I will Find a New Way.”
She Consider her Cost separating  
the Total from Dreams money cannot Pay
for…A Daughter, a Son, a Husband, Mom,
Brother, Sister, Friends, a meal for the Boy
who's hungry Next Door. Running Fast she Comes
to the World to Wake its Heart and Mind—"Soy
Tejedora: Just give me Ten dollars."
An Original by Gabriela.

Homage to the President of the United States, Viva Barack Obama

You bet a Black Woman is Obama’s
Truest Critic. That’s not Saying a Lot.
That’s Saying it All. The President’s not
Going to become the Highest Token.
(Some People are Adept at that.) He’s not.
Cuz Black People won’t let that Happen.
He’s in a Spot which is a Good Thing, Why
Not?  Who wants Yes-Men like Karl What-Not?
You know,the Friends who chill when you're In
and fast walk out when the Party’s gone?
This President has to be All And More.
He's been Handed Woes of those Obese Tax
Cuts.Such Huge Disasters can't be Concealed
He is Hamlet, King Lear and Othello.

Metrical Solutions to Stop EcoCollapse to My Hometown



I.


It's Metrical Revolution taking 
Place. Is it the Aquarian Age? I 
have Certain Features--my Horoscope Sign 
has to carry Water--then it's Mine. HooH!:


I know my Hometown Suffers me Gently.
They've known me all My Life. I was a Nerd.
Like I really truly hated the Pride 
there was for Teasing, Hating, and Rumors.


I'm a Big Cry Baby, that's Established.
So People, Gente, My Peeps, all da Folks,
I've Stopped all my Whining because I'm back
to tell you, We are Screwed and we're Dying.


If you don't think I should Speak anyMore,
I'm still Disinclined to See you Perish*




II.




I am not a Danger; I am Antennae.
Certain Things Pre-disposed me to be This
Way. I have HighVerbal IQ.  What's New?
I can not only Score but Design 
Tests used to judge us by number. Decide.
if you think it's not True. Or ask my Friends
from back home.  Yes, they can say who I am. 
Becuz it's often they say LOL 
on my Page.  And that's where my History 
lays.  I guess they'd say I am an Airhead
but they do that to Protect Edith.
So that's where I got my first Idea, 
to Learn from my Hometown and hope It
Believes I have proven Myself at last.




III.


One day my son wrote a Sad Song in School
it's called an Essay, Whatteva.
What he wrote I couldn't Forget Ever,
The environment will Collapse from Us!
"See," he said, "people Believe they're Better
than other Races, so if a Person
from another place, Say the Phillipines,
or Zimbabwe, has the Problem's Answers,
We're stUpid and we won't Listen."


I recalled I had heard Dr. King's Speech;
he had to explain to his Little Girl
she can't go to the Fun Park. No Negroes.


I'm asking you for my Two sons and Their
Generation, will we just Give it UP?










Why I Support the Dream Act: Let me Introduce You to My Student, Karla


A Dreamer in My Classroom:  A Professor's Story about an Undocumented Student


I will always remember my student, Karla. It was 2003 if I remember correctly.  She was seventeen years old and enrolled in my English Composition course at a University in Los Angeles.  The thing you need to know about Karla is that she was always the first student to arrive to campus on those cold, foggy early mornings in the fall and winter.  She arrived before I did and I became accustomed to seeing her sitting at one of the two picnic style benches in the grassy quad nearby.  I always looked forward to her polite greeting every morning--it was how I started my day.  

Karla had long silken black hair, deep brown eyes, and she carried herself with a combination of sadness and joy that made it difficult to ascertain the difference. I sensed there was something private she was keeping to herself.  She paid very close attention in lectures.  Her behavior set her apart from all of my other students.  


Reggaeton was at its peak.  Most of my students were older teenagers right out of high school. It wasn't unusual for them to use their electronic devices in class, flirt with one another, and even tease each other with silly names, argue about whose musical artist was the best, or to try to get over on each other just for fun.  One girl was a Daddy Yankee fanatic.  And in these ways, the students enjoyed socializing while Karla seemed worlds away.  

Shortly after the "Chicken Little" movie came out, and while a small group of youths was leaving class to go to lunch, one of the young men complained, "Professor, they keep calling me Chicken Little."  


Another one of the young men then called him out, "You look just like Chicken Little...You do!"  


I turned to the subject of all the teasing, and I replied, "Did you say Chicken Little?  I think that's a compliment because he's the best character in that movie.  Plus, he is the hero."


Relieved at my reply, the young man then responded to those teasing him, "She said Chicken Little is Cute.  Yeah, Chicken Little IS cute," and he walked away contentedly.  


Such were the silly conversations the students entertained themselves with between classes.  Karla did not play a part in these pranks and antics. 

One day I arrived and did not see her sitting at the picnic bench in the quad outside of our classroom.  I missed her early morning greeting; even if it was formal and polite, her absence made me wonder and even worry, “where is she?  She’s always the first one here.” 


The next day however, Karla came back.  In a departure from her serene demeanor, she hurriedly rushed to explain to me why she had missed class the previous day.  She had an appointment, she explained, and with fervor, she insisted that it would not happen again.  This told me that Karla was far more concerned than I was about a single absence. It also told me that Karla was different.  Class was crucial to her.

One day a male Latino student interrupted my lecture and blurted out highly-charged negative statements against immigrants.  I thought it odd for the same student had only recently submitted an essay about his parents crossing the border by foot.  (At the end of the semester, I was shocked and disappointed when I discovered he had in fact submitted plagiarized essays for class.) I asked the student to please consider that among those of us in the class, there were many whose families were immigrants, and that included me too. I tactfully asked that he speak with a bit more consideration and not disrupt lectures.

After class, Karla was waiting for me nearby, her small arms clutching her mochila to her chest.  She was uncharacteristically very eager to say something to me.  


She said, “I think it is good for him to express himself. That's why we're here, so we can talk to each other.”  In that moment, I realized that Karla’s long-held secret was that she was undocumented. She had no anger, resentment, or sadness over the other student’s comments.  

She then said to me, “I don’t have my papers so I ride the bus at five in the morning.”  

“Karla, that’s the reason you are always here in the morning to greet me?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, “I can’t drive to school for that reason, so I wait on campus all day then leave on the last bus."  


"What time do you get here?"


"About 5:30 in the morning." She replied with a bit more reluctance.

I proceeded to ask, "what time does the last bus leave, Karla?" 

She replied, "about nine in the evening.” 

I didn’t know what to say at first.  Just thinking that Karla had fourteen hour days at the University made me realize how much more accessible my education had been for me.  

“Karla, be very careful traveling at night.”  

She said, “I am.  I am very careful.”  

It was then I realized why she always wore a thread around her neck prominently displaying a saint.   And while some students made excuses for late work or absences, Karla lived a life of incredible courage and faith in a day-to-day struggle to educate herself against formidable barriers.  

I know Karla has done a lot since she graduated. I know first hand what she's capable of achieving. What troubles me is the thought she can't employ her college degree.  .   


Yes she was and still is in my mind, my most dedicated student.  Not only did she achieve high marks, but her polite and kind greeting gave me a hopeful feeling every single day I entered my classroom.


If I could speak to Karla today, I'd thank her.
I'd say:


"Hey, Karla, thank you for your early morning greetings.  I still consider you my student.  In light of that, I will do whatever I can to support your rights to the Education you gave so much to acquire.  I hope we can have the chance to say hello again someday."


Sincerely, 


From your English Professor

  

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

All Races Are Equal Or?

I heard Jared Diamond speak to a crowd.
It was standing room only. He confirmed
Racism is the biggest threat around.
Petty differences more than any germ,
he said, caused societal collapses.
If we could all choose between starvation
or acceptance, would we choose survival?
Would we stop hating to save our nation?

The doctor’s traveled far and wide and found
in vanished villages, all people died
off even when good food could’ve been found
preferring to be Special. Humankind,  
is it true we'd rather mass suicide
than face the fact all races are equal?

Monday, September 27, 2010

We Must Remember How to be Humane (again)

Francisco and I went out to the Church
to register Voters Yesterday.
Yeah Latinos can be  Republican
if they Choose. Mercy, Help Us when they Do.
The Priest quoted Karl Marx and Richard
Hugo.  The heat was over 100.
It was a Miracle I didn’t Fall Over
and the Children were playing with Ants, yes
the children were playing with Ants. The Plight
of our People…they are Your People Too!
For these are our Workers and they bring You
Food, Business, Education, Humor, Love,
Kindness, Presence, and Comprehension. Which
Is Why I’m Telling You:  Anyone There?
We need to learn how to be HUMan agAiN.

17 Points in 17 Minutes: That's Poetry, Shaq


Shaquille O’Neal Sonnet

Seventeen points in seventeen minutes!
What can the sonneteer do against such
accuracy and luck penultimate?
Her counting cannot lead to very much.
While the basketball player’s luck’s outlucked,
this lackluster pentameter is out
of time, not buoyant. Far from its goal, it
misfires word  past word in pedantic
rhyme, more haphazard than it is divine,
Her bouncing ball is ridiculous sport,
in vintage form of old world poetry,
equipped with lines, half strange, half obsolete.
When Pope who lisped in numbers passed to me.
I doubleshot, fouled and over-dribbled.

Generation X: Those Culture Wars were Scarey. We made it, Now let's Activate

Don’t take it Wrong.  Student Activists Ask
only our consideration.  But being
Young comes with its Inspirations. Recall,
When we were that way?And what were we Told?
Get busy!  Don’t Entertain Liberties.
Join the Crowd or Dare to be Ostracized.
Weve Made our Necessary Compromise.
Let’s carry our Cross and not make it Their’s.
Besides we’ll Earn double Seniority
in the Social Justice Academy.
Maybe our Sexlives will Improve, who Knows?
So we’re Generation X but Let’s update
Our Reputation Now.  We’ve been careful
Too Long, Yuppies are Gone. Let's Activate!

Stop Deportation of Vietnam Veterans, Por Favor: El Caso Triste de Dos Hermanos Americanos



Los hermanos Valenzuela ,
Veteranos de la Guerra
de Vietnam, los deportarán.
Soldados de esta nación
La Madre fue Ciudadana
Norteamericana. Pues
no luce bien asi, el país
que solamente otorga
al soldado que ha muerto
ciudadanía de Bandera.

Confidential Ad Hoc Report of Higher Education Barrios.

We take no Prisoners, not even That.
Literature informs us, Philosophy
too, and our Social Science Data
has Confirmed it Qualitatively. We
ask ourselves, What’s Efficiency to Us
We are the University! We're Green
with Opportunities for Luster.
Libraries are Austere. Let’s Pretend
we’re Working, Hide Out in Here and Devise
a Way to Keep Them Down, Suppress Freedom
is the Easiest Way. We’re not too Hot
for Exertions, Unless...Can We Advance?
Yes, We Can!" Signed, Suppressors Ad Hoc
Committee Report on Higher Ed Barrios. 

Pueblo Aburrido de Tanta Incivilidad



Pueblo aburrido ya de tanta
incivilidad! Y el racismo
no deja hablar, nos ha callado.
Porque antes (no era cierto?) se
iba la vida duro aun y ahora~~Ah!
la pobre Caridad la cabeza
no levanta ni la Esperanza.

Vuela viento arrulla el azul mar,
pura tristeza engendran las flores.
Ya no nos acuérdemos de lujo
en que el único deseo de las noches
era decidir a que restaurant
nos iríamos a cenar juntos.
Vuela ya no me hagas recordar.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Dream to Awaken: We Dreamed our Way Here?


Dream to Awaken
       --for the Dreamers

A dream, they say, belongs to sleep,

and decorates the mind so plain

with curtains of great images.

Perhaps they are the burnt and blistered

feet of Cuauhtemoc pictured there.
They come to dance again with us

to teach the steps of victory

from formulas that yield the dream

which paints the walls within our minds

with scenes of beauty, dignified.

Pueblo sufrido te quiero tanto: Si estamos Muertos nos Mejor Amamos. Hay Viene el Dia de Los Muertos



Cuando te oprimen me duele.  Cuanto
Mas hay que llorar por injusticias?
Nos creean simples y sin idea?
En la Historia se permitia
Entres los Cristianos decir queAlma
No tenian los salvajes indios,
Nuestros antepasados no Tienen
Mala Fama.  Preferieron Sabios
Ser y quemar a su Sabiduria
Fue regalarle al Muerto Amor.
Somos Dignos, Pertenecedores
La Memoria de la Muerte esta por Enfrente.
La Guerra Inegual es sin Moral.

Will California Ever Get Budget?: Human Beauty is Poetical Truth

There are good reasons for our Languages.
To begin, many have gone Extinct
by Underuse or Over-Exaggeration.
The World depends on this Understanding.
I know a word that has been Bastarized
so much it's meaning has been forgotten.


The Trust of the public in its Officials
is Based and granted as Pertains to
our Constitution's Ethical Purpose.


The term is known as Fiduciary
Responsibility--Where's the Budget
Arnold?  Wasn't Money your Claim to Fame?
You got the job based on that Acumen.
Don't Forget your Shoes when you go Walking.

A Billionocracy is Beginning with Meg Whitman as Governor of CA: It's a New Deep Blue Horizon

Today’s Billionaire isn’t Happy with
her Share.  Cuz the hard cold cash and assets  
aren't much. Yes, they want public office
That way they don’t pay their income taxes
the way the other people do. And since
we’re on the topic, I get a funny
feeling they want to become Royalty.
Queens like old with their family money
ruling as Today's Billionocracy.

Forget the People!  They’re only our Mules.
What we need are the very cheapest price
for every natural resource we can drill.
Smile for the camera, Dears, we want our
Power and a Shoreline for our Oil Spills!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Our Lindsey Lohanitis Needs a Cure

This Lindsey Lohanitis needs a Cure.
It's everywhere.  Its a Pandemic.
She is a Celebrity--that's for sure
but aren't there better ways to get kicks
than spend time hating on a lesbian?
Let us aspire to something better
Has the mad search for human perfection
gone berzerk? Our country's bad behavior
is making the illness inoperable!
First we must outgrow our adolescence.
The USA wears the crown for Global
Airheads of the world.  We need Common sense
answers to the madness. First things First! Quick!
our cocaine-loving country needs a fix.

You Can Use Mental Imagery to Remind Yourself to Practice Your Religion

Jesus was the Señor who delivered
last night from a Famous Pizzeria
with products, consumers, and commercials
but it starts with the flower's farmworkers
--producers of U.S. agriculture.
No God doesn’t provide crops from Above.
It's harvested and distributed by 
Our Paperless working Americans.
That’s just one Ingredient hombre! Let’s
get to the Tomato Sauce. Now you see 
the Picture? Did fish and wine multiply
by worker's exploitation? No they Din't!
For Jesus, I'm giving you a Blues Clue:
Please remember F*I*S*H*E*S

Let’s Not Vote for Feline Fiorina

So if Hewlett-Packard doesn’t want her why
would California? Billionaires are So
last millennium!  Don’t send us back in time
give our beautiful shoreline to your
cronies, funders, wasters, CEO's. Don't
colonize our people once again. There’s
a big confusion when these Corporate
Wonders get to thinking they can Take our
natural resources as their own Private 
Property. She's the type who befriends
Tea Parties. The Brothers Koch are Giants.
Ecoracism's got to finally end
not take over in Sacramento. You say
she went to M.I.T.? We Don't Want Her!

We are all Un/Documented~~Somos Todos In/Documentados: Unidos con La Fuerza Buena y Digna

Here’s a Prefix we can Use.  Nosotros
somos In/documentados.  No Nos da
Vida La Frontera con sus Reyes
y Soberanos Malos. We never go
Wrong if we stay Strong. La Dignidad
no Muere. Many say words whose Purpose
is Abuse:  Whore, criada, Condenada
Wetback, Lazy, Dirty, Anchor Baby
Oh! those Mexicans (even if we’re Not)
We’re Guatemalan, Nicarguan, and
Gargantuans of Kindness but are we
Docile Indians? I’ll say it Nicely once.
You don't Recognize my Rights! Was I Born
Here, or was it There? That's not your Concern.

Hate Ragers Who Can't be Satisfied



Hate-Ragers, you Know ‘em.  They took over
TV, Internet, and Radio Shows
(They also have ties with Fox who we know
are Bad News) It was not that long ago
they became wacko anti-Immigrants
preaching Hate and Vile Ignominy
Excoriation is not Sufficient
cuz they blame us for the economy.

Why take our country seriously?
That’s how they think.  Brain surgery
can’t help.  They do this recreationally
and are happiest causing injury.
Then they swear they aren’t racists. Oh! No!
Why is it that they chill with Nazis though?  

Friday, September 24, 2010

Yeah, we’re Facebook Poets, America: To My Buddies B.R., Francisco, Alma,

Yeah, we’re Facebook Poets, America.
We don’t own no Bookstores or Publishing
Houses. What do those Companies know
about Literature when all they do is
Pander to the past? James Joyce was awesome
because he’d understand. Imaginations
don’t believe in Limits. They go Fast, Fast,
Fast and Tire with Rehearsing what has
already been Said over and again.
Poor minds, they’d rather just focus on what’s
easier at times to grasp. But that don’t
mean we wouldn’t like some artistic change.
Not everything should be packaged for cash
then left to fill the Sales Bins before
turning into trash. How ‘bout we just post
a poem that consumes no paper, no gas
It says a few things but creates no waste
which poisons our Water and Kills our Taste.

There are Females and Tramps. Which One is Which?

There are women and there are tramps. We get
it. There’s a difference. Some use their Beauty
to find a good man or a great woman.
Isn't this a free, fair, democratic
society? Then there are the Females
who’ll do Anything for money, power,
and free Celebrity. They also like
the perks as anyone of us would. But,
see, there lays the difference. We have hearts
and souls. We care our species can survive
its woes, many are self-inflicted. Then
there are the Tramps and Hoes who want to buy
our Rights Away! And how do they Afford
it? We give it up for free! Cuz somehow
they’ve convinced us they love us on TV
But there's something Creepy and Unsavory
about the Super Rich who pretend they're
our friends. Do you really think that Whitman’s
got money because she helps the People
when the high mortgages are due and kids
could use some after-school programs, a real
chance to realize their Young Dreams? Hell no!
So let’s get a message clear to Palin,
Fiorina, Whitman, O'Donnell and
the rest: We know you didn’t Earn power
you posses, nor the money either. You're
the Political Tramps Opportunists Crew.