Disguised deluders
Two faces on the same head
A demented Janus
Streets explode borders burn
Truth tethered then torn
Media monetized
Peace pirated
Addiction afflicted
The impoverished impugned
Knowledge kneecapped
Science scandalized
Stupidity standardized
Life levied by lunatics
Lawlessness laughing
Greed aggrandized
Earth entering extinction
War at the wheel of wealth
Genocide justified and gratuitous
Month: June 2024
After a Live Performance of Ofrenda de Cempasuchil
Ofrenda de Cempasuchil by Rodrigo Loman
(Marygold Offering for Día de los Muertos)
On the road to the cemetery
Marching steps grow heavier and sadder
Processions of musical notes
All ring with the glow of their candles
Flower music turns into fruit music
Baskets of shadow murmur with sound
Crosses of salt are spread over graves
To feed the dead with the earth’s bread
This offering of music flowers
From the crypt like the birth of birth
It lines the pathways with its golden glow
And flows past our reality into another
Suddenly sensation leaves the body
The dance is possessed by ghosts
It’s like bones are joyously dancing
And spirit feels itself in flesh again
We’ve all been made flesh by the music
Remembered by it and reanimated
Mixed into the melody of mortality
Stillness and the silence that sings
Pioneers of the Prairies
Seems to me cottonwoods feel changes
Before any other tree.
Even the gust edge of an approaching front
Sets all its leaves into flight.
It’s the first tree to sound the alarm,
To set the distance shimmering,
Telling us the wind is at our backs
And tonight will be a night of storms.
I study all the trees for signs
But a cottonwood tells me everything.
How soon to find shelter
And how many stars are born to dreamers.
Praise of the Purest Air
Between song sparrows, catbirds,
Waxwings, orioles, and red-eyed vireos
Spring has blossomed into sound,
With birdsong so spirited and alive
You’d think it a religious revival,
Save that these spirits are innocent,
They have real feathers and sing
Of the purest air praise can promise.
Salvatore Ala 