geografía con mingus

poetry

I
At sunrise
where the Ganges current calmingly call out
this sable phoenix
out of the floating honey suckle of memories
so that no blind sparrow
struggle to find
the cloud shadowed seas
as they yearn to dip the tip of their wings
into the blue cool river rifts
his strumming still awakens us
late, into our midnight's passing.

II
In the silk dark mountains of Cuerna Vaca
a glittered jade is sprinkled
into the underground of its palm leafed jungle
so that Mingus
ever the emperor of his dynasty
ever the baron of sounds
walks only on emerald ground
	Says the humming
		-Hi		-De	-Ho
			bird
vato desrves that much.

III
The pulp beaten bases confess the highs and lows
of  being played into the realm of royal subjects.
Regal sounds begin to blare and drip their melody into our air
and the melodic chatter of slidding octaves
	-BOMB	-SPIN		-BLAST
a blazing harmony
and a million happy moons appear in our sky
to look at the rainbow petal blossoms of our land
and I can hear Mingus say
"Let my children hear Music. Music."

IV
Mingus, desaparecistes
mi alma busca esos ritmos
¿Donde los escondistes?

V
Bachita, la curandera, held the crushed yerba buena
to sprinkle over her copal hazed room
and saw those silver fingers of his
begin to dazzle, putting struggle aside, and play an invisible bass.

VI
You must have looked into the phospurus flame breath of Tonatiuh,
your eyes immovable, like a xiximeca child,
engulfed by the rising pyramids of Teotihuacan
you must have seen the peak of this granite temple
and had to climb osidian and malachite steps
away from your wheelchair
to reach one immaculate last crescedo
and shouted
"Let my children hear Music. Music. Music."

Miguel-Angel Soria

Miguel-Angel Soria is a Chicano Community Artist/Activist from San Diego, California. Originally born in Tijuana and raised a few blocks from Tijuana’s Avenida Revolucion, he and his family eventually arrive on the U.S. side and settled in the San Ysidro/ Nestor area of San Diego.