RICHcity.

RICHcity

You could miss it if you blink.
This little city that sleeps.
Sinking into forgotten promises and
trapped under outlier’s perceptions thrust upon them like drift nets on its prey.
They are swimming upward,
but losing breaths and movement due to someone else’s mistakes.

But,
It is still here.
Remaining rooted in possibility
Cautiously waiting for their turn
at the world that refuses to acknowledge their potential.
It is rolling each memory of
disappointment into resistance,
into fuel against apathy.
Roaring, bubbling, pining for the chance
at paradise.

Because in this city,
In this place no one wants to remember,
There is an uproar beginning taking
hold.
There is a movement of minds
collaborating for change.
There are children being raised to
believe in their chance,
To protect the freedom of their
minds as if it’s existence holds the answers to generational reluctance.

It is here.
Lining the streets with a rhythm
undeniable.
Filling the sky with drumbeats booming
with expectation.
The march of education –
The simplest form of revolution-
Can be heard from
corner to corner,
heart to soul,
paper to pen,
Furiously working together to create a
symphony of change.

So march on,
And let the notes that you play take hold of the hearts that don’t believe.
March on,
With your S.W.A.G at your side
and your dreams as your sun.
March on,
Because you will get there, the
music will never run out.
You WILL get there.

You will show them everything precious
about this city.
You will show them the treasures this
city holds secret.
You will show them that your dreams
and your hearts and your future are worth fighting for.
You will prove to them,
That this city, is in fact,
RICH.

March on Class of 2013, peace.
-ms.rOque

 

team de jean

babae

We are the women in waiting.

Holding secrets, sadness, and simplicities like sacred summons we will later use for symphonies.

We are the women in waiting,

the keepers of strength,

storing our stories for a worthy moment.

Releasing just enough to endure, for fear that too much release would disturb the

natural balance of insanity and beauty.

 

We take the tears of this generation, coupled with the screams of our youth & create the silence before revelation.

Rise on the stealth of support & mask it in empowerment for you to dwell on.

 

We are freedom and unapologetic flight,

Soaring in and out of improvised legends,

Occasionally stopping to be nourished but frequently giving nourishment.

Natural warriors, simultaneously navigating through and in the flow of love, pain, wonder.

Even in stillness, we remain relevant and reverent to the seeds our mothers planted through our ancestral instincts.

 

We are wine and laughter,

Honesty in tragedy ,

The chaotic acceptance that comes with change.

And that’s the thing about miracles,

They’re never meant to be understood.

And that, that’s what scares the unsure, rocks the uncertain.

 

But we will respond responsibly.

We will take your fears with both hands, infuse it using fingertips poisoned with our glamour and love the pain away.

 

Because from the chaos of a woman comes timeless inspiration.

From the vulnerability of a woman comes the ability to embrace humility.

From the body of a woman comes a madness that pushes art strokes.

 

We are the women in waiting.

Balancing loveliness and pain, legacy in epic proportions

We are the women in waiting,

turning survival into an art.

my father the cat.

5^th life.

bien-elize rOque

You told me to smile when you cried,

To die if you died,

To live and let life.

 

My walls had already fallen at the sound of your voice trembled,

pleading prayers for my soul.

Worried whispers emitted from my core,

surrounding us as we slept in the rainforest.

 

Could you feel each communal connection made between each stroke of my thumb on your chest, holding back my screams to ask you if it was all a dream?

We were stripped to bare silence,

yet I, still saw you, strong.

Bombs explode onto faces in the image of tears,

And days add their presence onto your countenance

But you remain to be all you’ve been.

 

In 5 rounds of the sun,

My world is destroyed and yet you,

my Father abounding in love,

stay beside me,

making sure life does not abandon us.

Your wise eyes steal glances,

remind me that there’s hope on the other side of the horizon.

Your strong stature sits softly,

still singing me to sleep.

            May tomorrow, be a perfect day.

May it bring fun and laughter along the way.

May God bless you, in a special way and may we see each other again.

May we see each other again.

Because you’ve got me writing encrypted with freedom

And I,

I’m telling sweet colored butterflies to tell my mother

That her family will survive.

My father will bring us home.

We will, come home.

*            *            *

Dad, your love is safe,

And I cannot remember a time when your love did not exist.

It is the miracle that synchronizes family with sacred,

holding us in expectation.

 

Your love wraps us in joy.

Pushing us, reminding us to enjoy

the laughter that sits at the bottom of our symphonies.

 

So here we are.

A family cultivated through chaos,

Fighting for a love that secures my future so long as I keep you my standard.

Because you are proof that your will for survival is more powerful than fear.

That the miracles of your mind can and will move mountains with push pins.

That dreams don’t belong in sleep.

 

You are faith personified.

Your stories linger through my heart as your legacy,

Speaking life through epiphanies

I will sit and listen to everything

Let your strength engulf me

Please teach me how to live successfully.

 

Because you are the dream we’ve all secretly wanted.

You are inspiration, laughter, lover, dreamer, music maker, storyteller, brother, husband, friend, father.

And I hope you know,

with every pale moon/new song

b/c you are,

I am.

t h r 3 3

in a recent email thread started by heidi, forcing me to be reflective and nostalgic, miguel proposed a question .. “who are you now?” .. in 3 words. well that’s easy! haha ..while i was daunted by the task, i always welcome (or try to) moments to reflect specifically on who i have become and where i am at ..

some responses :

rebuilding ancient ruins

still finding story

humbled in simplicity

embracing God’s timing

[and mine] moved by MAYhem.

… after a very unrooted, tumultuous, adventurous, surprising, growing 6 months – i will be finally be experiencing a little bit of stability. tomorrow i will be moving to san francisco for 3 months due to a summer job. i am blessed and amazed daily at God’s provisions and the doors He opens.

if you know me, you know i hate change and i love stability and routine in my life (esp cuz i never really have it) so i intend to love the crap out of these next 3 months..no more 8 dollar toll ..no more driving back to vallejo at 3 in the morning .. no more living out of bag. all i can say is … ….. ….. …. …. yee!

i’m feeling liberated through a cascade of colors delighting my excited palette.

can you taste it?

definitely ready. definitely moved.

….so. what’s your 3 words?

ready…set ……go ………….

for my namesake

Unfinished and written wayyyyy too late in the night..

for Grandma Bien and the wonderful 90 years she’s lived as amazing ..

for Gen’s Lola that lives on in Gen’s beauty ..

for Dunn’s Inay who i continue to fall in love with and thank daily for the wonderful life she lived and  passed on through Dunn

for all mother’s and lola’s continuing to be our strength and inspiration..

Happy Mother’s Day ❤

90 years old and STILL getting down on the dance floor!!

Bananas and Rice

Her hands.
I watch them mash the bananas into her left over rice.
Is this the source of her longevity?
Or is it her hands that methodically work steady to continue life.
They are rough with endurance,
soft with wisdom.

Today she is beautiful,
Her success, measured in the stories her hands bear.
Etched into the crevices created by endurance.
The children she held in escape,
The chalk she used to educate,
The lives she helps to sustain.

There are moments in her hands that I hope will never be forgotten.
I will sit within them and take the time to smell them,
Kiss them.
Pray with them.
I will hold your hands to my cheeks and feel the Son that powered you to be.
I will hold them upon my heart and hope, just hope, that the love you learned will imprint itself onto mine.

Today, you are the reason we exist.
Perseverance manifested in family.
Know that you extended love and created a legacy.
You planted your feet in a dream,
and did not move until we all found it too-
Thank you.

You are the premise to the promise of being wonderful.
The “SHE” that lives wildly, carefully within each footprint of our souls.
Your rhythm carries us to move confidently away from fear.
We draw strength and inspiration from your common ground.
I merely gaze at you and know there is beauty to be found.
We love you.
Because you are the SHE we strive to be.

And because today,
SHE is amazing.
The source of life weaved into a powerful life force that moves delicately in positivity.
She is Grandmother, Mother, Aunt, and Woman –
Equivalent to Strength
Expert on Beautiful
and more than deserving of Love.

`nOwie
mothers day 2009

liwanag.

in solidarity with the moment

i closed my eyes.

let the current take me towards freedom.

the light  so close

illuminated path

rose smeared tears

the signature of beauty.

swept.

into a process bigger than i had imagined

allowed fear and beauty to coexist

until i was ready to let it go.

i floated.

until there was no place to go

but

to

dive

into

healing.

twisting swirls in my mouth

a surprise gritty chalk

i chewed

until it smoothed into an even tempered caramel sun

kissed the clouds goodbye

let out my final scream

it is finished.

a warrior. child of Light.

my feet

have finally found the path.

**

for the things i have endured, the strength in faith i have embraced, and the Light that is promised.

*

today i had margaritas and flautas with my parents in the afternoon. after my long awaited nap, we sat on the couch in our pajamas and on our laptops making fun of tfc .. it is through these moments i am thankful for life, for home and my decision to fight for them.

from an email my dad sent:

“i just wanted to thank you for your prayers and love. thank you for the visits, thank you for the ensure (it really helped me a lot), thank you for the phone calls, the many text messages and emails of infos and encouragements, it filled my days and kept me going, thank you for the generosity and thoughtfulness, a perspective that i’m not alone, thank you for getting together last christmas (sleeping much better huh?) and yes, thank you for your forgiveness….  thank you for honoring your vow “in sickness and in health” you are my “fear factor” hero, (appreciated the sponge baths and the labatiba flush, that was fun). thank you for moving back from LA, it made me look forward to new mornings, and most of all, thank you for all the support and serenity for my hero and my princess in giving them the strength and the courage to go through this battle…

as the story goes… the good samaritan cared for the man…

… i remember, it was once taught “magmamahalan kayo” – the joy i found in each of you, a life enJOYed is worth living,  my family, my samaritans – God BlessYou.”

a life enJOYed is worth living.

go get it dad 🙂