Elvis Alves's Blog, page 4
July 6, 2013
June 30, 2013
Chinatown
Visit to Chinatown comes with invitation
to beheading
Roasted ducks, chickens, and pigs—with
life drawn from them—hang headless
on racks across broad windowpanes
Before mounting steps to restaurant
hidden between office buildings like
precious flower in a forest of tall trees,
my mind traces red and gold characters
above the door, wondering what secrets
they hold; the proprietor announcing
what he was able to accomplish—call his own—in
a land far from his birth
Inside, a woman serves Dim Sum. She and I do...
to beheading
Roasted ducks, chickens, and pigs—with
life drawn from them—hang headless
on racks across broad windowpanes
Before mounting steps to restaurant
hidden between office buildings like
precious flower in a forest of tall trees,
my mind traces red and gold characters
above the door, wondering what secrets
they hold; the proprietor announcing
what he was able to accomplish—call his own—in
a land far from his birth
Inside, a woman serves Dim Sum. She and I do...
June 10, 2013
April 27, 2013
Naming
Go build castles where they do not belong. Take from the poor and
give to the rich. Let the sun shine its face on all that is not bright—
on all that is wrong with the world we call home.
Sing to the priest cloaked with greed. Give him and his church more
than they deserve—your life.
You are the one to be taken into the woods and left among fallen
leaves.
I will meet you below the tree. There we will stand, hold hands,
and name animals.
Works&Days Quarterly
November 4, 2012
October 10, 2012
August 7, 2012
Feast for Eshu
Notes from the band playAcross Eshu’s face as he waitsAt the gateWelcoming people to the feast
Twitches, glances, movements ofThe eyes, nose, and body parts below,Like the feetBetray a nature playful in tone
The guests arriveNow at the end of their Journey
Music, dancing and food awaitThem only after Eshu stops playingThe fool
Published: Shine Journal
August 2, 2012
I Chant
I and I chant Rastafari
speaking truth to power
while Babylon keeps burning
with holy fire.
I and I chant Rastafari
pleading Ithiopia to stretch
forth her black hands and gather
her sons and daughters from the
four corners of the world.
Bring them back to Africa, the land
of black gods and ancestors who
never really die but remain steadfast
like the pulse that beats in I and I heart.
I and I chant Rastafari so that the sleeping
bones of I brothers and sisters can wake
and walk again. I chant down prisons,
ba...
speaking truth to power
while Babylon keeps burning
with holy fire.
I and I chant Rastafari
pleading Ithiopia to stretch
forth her black hands and gather
her sons and daughters from the
four corners of the world.
Bring them back to Africa, the land
of black gods and ancestors who
never really die but remain steadfast
like the pulse that beats in I and I heart.
I and I chant Rastafari so that the sleeping
bones of I brothers and sisters can wake
and walk again. I chant down prisons,
ba...
