Saturday, December 28, 2019

TEMPLO DE SAN DIEGO DE ALCALAÍ´

                                                                    (photo:  wiki)

i.

Worship
rises

from

kneeling hearts

Desire
becomes
faith

faith

ignites

love

Prayers
gather
prayers

and

devotion
returns
to
where
it
arose.

Yours

is

the

Sacred Heart.


ii.

Three grandmothers
kneeling
shoulder-to-shoulder

gray hair
braided
falling
to
mid-back

reach to touch

God’s
plaster hands

velvet hem
of its robe.

Everything
is
imagined

what’s miraculous
is real

what’s real
is miraculous.

Three grandmothers
shoulder-to-shoulder

stand
&
bless themselves

turn
&
shuffle

shawls
pulled tight

leave
faith’s gloom

enter

day light.


RW
GTO, Mex
12.28.2019


Friday, December 27, 2019

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS


                                                     (J.J. Tissot - Brooklyn Museum)

HEROD

Herod’s brain was
riddled with worms.

When the Magi
were presented
he wept
and trembled
even before they spoke.

They

sotto voce

sang charms 
each in the glimmer
of his own language
and calmed him.

Composure
regained
Herod sat
sharp eyed
listening.

Sly Herod
wished
the Magi would -

“return and tell me
of this new king’s
birthplace.”

They agreed, of course.

Weeks later,
when they hadn't returned
he voiced his command. 

His Chamberlain nodded

orders were given
soldiers dispatched

and the Innocents
were slaughtered

but not before

gold
frankincense
 and
myrrh

financed a family's flight

to safety.


I AM THE VICTIM

All lines excerpted from Adolph Eichmann’s final statements at his trial in Jerusalem, 1961-1962)
***

(crack of two stones rapped together)

I have heard the court’s verdict.

(crack)

I see myself…disappointed.

(crack x 2)

I am the victim.

The witnesses’ statements made my legs go numb.

It was not my wish to slay people.

(crack)

I was held fast in those dark duties.

Obedience was not easy.

I obeyed.

(crack)

I am tormented.

I never carried out killings.

No bloodguilt lies on me.

I would ask forgiveness.

I am not the monster.

(crack)

I am the victim of an error.

I suffer here for others.

I am the victim.


I must bear what fate has imposed upon me.

(crack x 2)



Sunday, December 22, 2019

EVERYONE-EVERYWHERE-ALL THE TIME

NASA:  The Big Bang

(for Hugo & Lindsey)

Everyone
of us

a
gift
of
circumstances

I’ve heard them called contingencies

anatta

We
are
precious

All of us
&
the odds of us
being

would

fill any page
book
library
&
etc

with
numbers

Calculate Pi

Everyone

a product
of the
singularity

Everywhere

in
an
expanding
universe

All the Time

RW
Guanajuato, Mex
12.22.2019

VICIOUS BIRDS

                                                   


VICIOUS BIRDS

I find gatherings
of men in suits
absurd & frightening

They dress in finery
because they are up to
no good

Peacocks are
vicious birds
and will even attack
their own image.

As for the leader
of the free world –

a red tie
that reaches
to the crotch
is a wish of
self-fellatio.

***

This has been
a morning of sighs

Feeling emptiness
at my center

Sensing
dishwater
swirling
around
the
drain

yes, that.

I never would have thought
but maybe I’m a patriot
in love with the notion that
freedom is linked with responsibility
and democracy finds its way to kindness

That despite our
many & horrid sins
we have had
and are losing
our chance

at liberty, and justice

For All.


RW
Guanajuato, Mex.
12.13.2019







AWE (Museo de Artes Popular, Mexico City)

                                                                   (Museo de Artes Popular, Mexico City)


AWE


Struck viscerally

&

humbled

by

imagination
broken hearts
wild dreams

pushed
through

bone & blood

summoned
into
hands

lacquered
on to

the

world.


RW
Mexico City
12.06.2019


Monday, December 9, 2019

THE DAYS OF TRUMP #19




THEY COME IN HIS SLEEP

One afternoon, POTUS arose from Executive Time and summoned his Lick-Spittle Carson.

POTUS said,  “Ben, my African-American, tell Puerto Rico they will get all the aid as soon as they do the thing.”  And Carson asked, “What thing”?  “The thing they need to do,” said POTUS.  And Carson said, “Yes, sir,” and backed out of the room. 

POTUS, satisfied with his work, called it good, and returned to his lounger.  In time, he was visited by the Angel of Kyiv. 

When POTUS awoke, he had forgotten all about Puerto Rico.

(This style lounge chair is known as a Bombay Fornicator.)

RW
12.09.2019
GTO, Mex.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

SUNDAY, GTO




SUNDAY
12.01.2019
Guanajuato

i.

Climbing
green
tendrils

Pulling

hand
over
hand

into

Mayan Blue

Swaying

as
music
rises

from
Sunday
market.

ii.

GOD

G_D

G_

G

.

RW






Sunday, November 24, 2019

FEAR

(photo:  mine, Oaxaca,Mex)



FEAR

I dreamed I stabbed a deer and laid it on its side. It spoke to me and did not die.


FEARS

return
over & again

close the door
they seep
across your threshold

seal the windows
they find their way
as drafts

spray all the repellent
you and your wizards can devise
and they will dress themselves
from your closet

ignore them
and they will pester
                  your sleep.               

   *

Open your arms

watch them
step forward  stumble back
unsure of the tune
you’ve called

Set the table

and they will
gorge themselves
into
skeletons
and
smoke

Breathe easy

the wind
will
carry
them
away

I dreamed I stabbed a deer
and laid it on its side

It spoke to me, and did not die.

RW
Guanajuato, Mex.
11.23.2019

Artemio Rodriguez