Primero de Mayo | May 1 | the international movement

The working class
That international beast of capitalist burden
Used to count the light, the wrinkled skin of stars and cosmos
Now we’re trapped in the industrial smokestack's web of disaster
We used to be Indians, most of us at least.
We donned silk-screened t-shirts with the crocodile trademark over our huipiles
We interspersed the language of money in the crust of our souls,
Banning the sun from the count of human time.

We are in trouble:
Are we workers or are we humans
Are we sons and daughters of the land or is the land dispossessed of the dispossessed
Are we on street-corners waiting for work or are we on the cosmic pilgrimage
to honor Lucy, our first mother, returning the first kiss with the first humanity to be

Dos



Veinte girasoles
Veinte fuerzas
Veinte vientos, polvos, criaturas. aguas, animalitos, hormiguitas, abrazos, veinte maneras de amarte y hacerte el amor
Hoy es el primer día
Nace de mi bravura verde
Con su hocico se traga el dolor, dejando un arcoiris de cicatriz
Después de él nos barre el viento
Nos autogestamos en nuestras casas
Los sueños emergen de nuestro plumaje
La muerte nos arrulla
El venadito vuela
El lunar del conejito cuelga de tus oidos, arêtes astrales
El agua siempre nos bendice ancestros y recien nacidos
Los chiquillos correnm nos aman incondicionalmente, ladran sus corazones
Luego se trepan en la copa del cielo y mis changuitos cantan con las estrellas
Luego la mujer de la tierra, del lodo, de las raíces humanas nos mece entre sus brazos acuáticos
Ella construye una flauta de carrillo que hostiga a los sentidos de los conquistadores.
El ocelote carga los astros de la noche sobre su piel, su ofrenda humana a la naturaleza
que es arrebatada por el águila de la luz.
Luego mi abuelito me recuerda que el aura volará siete veces traspasando el cadaver de los explotadores.

Todas las vida y las luchas empiezan y terminan en el movimiento:
La materia visible e invisible
baila, gira, se tuerce y retuerce en el ombligo del pozo negro,
la cúmbia cósmica del big bang.
Llegando a esta aurora, la tierra exige un ofrenda
Tienes que decidir que parte de tu cuerpo sacrificarás para que la luz no muera.
La lluvia explota con su rabia pura, nos baña con su cristalina voz
De ella brotan nuestros cantos, el éxtasis de estar a tu lado…

Tres

Cipactli
Ehecatl
Calli
Cuetzpalli
Coatl
Miquiztli
Mazatl
Tochtli
Atl
Itzcuintli
Ozomatli
Malinalli
Acatl
Ocelotl
Cuauhtli
Cozcacuauhtli
Ollin
Tecpatl
Quiahuitl
Xochitl
así
es la cuenta
de nuestras derrotas
así
es el tiempo
de nuestras esperanzas
son los días donde nos estremecíamos en las fogatas de la luna
y en los brazos del sol negro.
Todos las noches y los días son sagrados
Hay noches cuando nuestros sacrificios son impuestos
Hay días cuando la explotación cava tumbas en nuestros pechos
Han habido ya más de siete generaciones aguantando, resistiendo
y sacrificándose para parir al nuevo sol…

Poetica snapshot | danzantes on Ohlone lands

 

Arnoldo García

Poetica snapshot | danzantes on Ohlone lands

 

I do not want
to trade
The noise of one empire
For another.
The danzantes are lost
In space
My fists pound
We are in Ohlone lands
Now and forever
The four directions
Are meaningless
Without recognizing
Where we are
Without organizing
Where we belong
Without finding our place
In the cosmos of this land
Ohlone
Oh lone shell
Placed against my lips and spittle
I blast the sun into her own darkness
I scatter the ashes of your lie
The ahuehuetl vibrates
Setting off the car alarms
The danzantes bring in stars, suns, ghosts
They cannot hear anything except the ahuehuetl
The car alarm wails
Cries for the police to arrest
The terrestially cosmic movement
The ahuehuetl beats hearts into one
Serpent ondulating whirling dusty fire
The ahuethuetl stops the siren
The ahuehuetl abuelito flor crumbles the waves
Two students, one Mexican, one Black
Grumble
The Spanish are taking over everything
(They are not happy with the danzantes.)
And I do not want to trade
The noise
Of one empire
For another....

Update on community mural in east Oakland

Desi along with Leo, Pancho Pescador, Jane and others are creating a new work of community art almost in my backyard. Part of a citywide initiative called, "Community Rejuvenation Project," which includes neighborhood participation in the mural design and painting and growing community gardens, Desi explained that they went to the store owner and asked permission to paint this historical mural on the outside wall of the store facing Seminary, close to MacArthur Boulevard.

From left to right on the mural, the artists depict ancient history starting with African and Mesoamerican roots. The you have two historical figures a black woman who led a slave revolt and Cuauhtemoc, the last leader of the Aztecs who fought the first Indigenous battles against the incipient European invasion of the Americas.

In the background is the "Black Eagle" of the farmworker movement. Cesar E. Chavez, founder and leader of the United Farm Workers union, designed the logo associated with the UFW. He explained that the "Balck Eagle" was a reminder of the long and deep history of farmworkers and agriculture in the Americas, dating back to the Aztecs and beyond.

On each wing of the farmworker eagle you have Elaine Brown, Black Panther leader, and Inez Garcia, who was raped and in her cause celebre was represented by a Black Panther lawyer in Oakland. Desi explained that the Black Panthers had a historic meeting at Mills College back in their hey-day, which is a few blocks around the corner from the actual mural.

In the center of the mural you have a pre-Colombian Mesoamerican symbol for movement right above the Black Panther party symbol. Then you have images expressing voices being raised for justice and community members expressing their power.

A large image of a woman, acting with fist raised high and exclaiming words, comes from

another photograph that turns out to be that of a Iranian in protest. Behind her you can see images from Alcatraz and Angel Islands, where Asian immigrants were jailed awaiting entry or deportation.