The U.S. border serves neither
to keep the despised immigrants out
nor unfortunately to keep
it's weapons and culture of death in
the purpose must be to demonstrate
their bizarre intent
to militarize our souls
Across that border
the struggle for and against
full spectrum dominance
rages
heading south to the
communities in resistence
"flying down the highway
watching desert turn to cement block construction
and the smell of burning trash"
makes me cry
Sure a lot of that going on
this process of globalization
is ugly
two worlds existing in parallel
one rapidly expanding
the other slowly disappearing
who pays attention to what is being lost
who is being asked whether
the one should displace the other
where are these worlds headed?
The obvious answers are perhaps too
painful to contemplate
so we don't
my traveling partner has set a blistering
pace
he was determined to arrive in 3 days
so we drove like maniacs
he didn't even want to stop to eat tacos
I haven't had a beer
or a cup of coffee yet
just of blur of brown changing to green
as the desert gives way to the tropics
flashing past the windscreen
punctuated scenes from another
life
another world
that I would so dearly loved to have explored
Oh what our highspeed cultures
have done to us :-(
So many new roads
carving up the country
we took the expensive
toll roads where they exist
(lots of places)
the saddest was a road that cut right
through a community
they didn't even provide an on/off ramp
that might have contributed to the
economic development that
they say they want to foster
Between
the clashing kalidoscope
of color poverty and possibility
there are so many spaces
i ask myself
what questions should i be asking
what observations will
penetrate the sad mist that seems
to be settling over this beautiful place
the closer we get to our destination
the more army check points
it is an occupied and surrounded zone
Soldiers nearby begin firing their rifles at
about 5am
competing with the roosters
to announce the morning
low intensity warfare
harrasment and intimidation
i come to help save the seed
corn seed
developed here by the indigenous
over 6,000 years
just as i was crossing the border
Monsanto received a license for their newest
genetic modification to corn
(a new BT gene - against root worm)
to save the seed before contamination
changes it forever
how are foreign genes excised once implanted?
bicycles are also on the agenda
bicycles for teachers and health promoters
to ease the journey
of those who travel so many long miles
to bring "la palabra"
So, that's why we are here
to offer our solidarity and
what little help we can
to some of those who
dare to dream their own dreams
of a different world
One in which they have a place at the table
If they who hang so precariously
in a world
that they fiercely love
a culture they want to retain
continue to struggle with hope
how can i not be a little hopeful?
As Arundhati Roy says, "Not only is another world possible,
she is present.
If you listen carefully you can hear her breathing."
From the rebellious mountains somewhere to the
south of gringolandia,