manuel lozano

Left and a Right/Ballot Box Burns

2012-01-25T14:29:00.007-07:00

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Everyone is being given a choice
Between all those that will eventually harm you,
The same ones that censor your voice
As they go on to disarm you.
A crooked center with a left and a right
Ascends from the bowels of the darkest night
With plans of false peace that set off a storm.
With smiling faces and the power of speech,
They will try to take everything they reach
With your children in the army they form.

Many will rise up to put in their word,
Fooled into thinking that their phrasing is gold,
The song deep inside them will be one caged up bird,
Silenced with no fight as it’s bought and sold.
The dead advocates are still doing their thing,
Rewarding the beauty of being able to sing
To spread a poison absorbed through the senses,
And deep in the pocket the faces are burning,
While outside yourself the body is yearning
For nutritional value with no deadly consequences.

Others will insist that its all just a story,
A theory conspired by rebellious thought,
While many are set up to fight for false glory
In a move that will strip you of all you have got.
The terror is plotting from inside the system—
Domestic betrayers killing all the old wisdom
That holds on to its true righteous roots.
They try to sever the link to all that is sacred,
And plant the seeds of anger and hatred
Through all the false dreams of material pursuits.

Few are the ones that will honor the ancestors,
Able to hold on to their true spirit of resistance,
While the world is sold to a group of investors
Who plot every move of your very existence,
And away from the shadows the people will stand,
In their maize feet, with machete in hand,
And the song of their flower rising with each note.
The medicine of their word will be a ritual cleansing,
Running insiders out through their white picket fencing
As the true elders gather to cast their vote.

© Manuel Lozano 2012

Alma Rebelde

2012-01-12T12:28:00.002-07:00

Alma Rebelde

Mi cielo se mira en el espejo del rio,
El sol llega y corona al amanecer,
Los pajarillos cantan con tanta alegria
Mientras los campos comienzan a florecer.
Mi alma rebelde para y suspira,
Las lineas fueron marcadas en ese papel,
Pues ese paisage tan lindo que mira
Ya nunca jamas podra ser de el.

Hay arbol torcido sin alguna esparanza,
Mi raiz necesita beber de esa agua,
Pero entre tanta barrera no se alcanza
El fondo del pozo de la epoca antigua.
Mi cielo se nubla al recordar el pasado,
La luz no ilumina ninguna pared,
Aqui me encuentro desconocido y cansado
Sin alguna manera de curar esta sed.

Hay alma rebelde que bien me conoces,
Sabes naci para hacer lo que tengo que hacer,
Aquellas tormentas en aquellas voces
Dividen la tierra por puro placer.
La vida camina al son del latido,
Y este guerrero al tambor de batalla,
Los cercos cicatrizan lo que han herido
Alli donde la sombra cuelga su medalla.

Hay sangre mia que resistes con calma,
No hay cosa mejor que saber quien naciste,
La historia esta escrita en la palma,
Y el puño de tierra sabra lo que combatiste.
Por hoy me ocupo en sonar las alarmas,
El rio no canta sin el movimiento,
Con estas palabras me levanto en armas,
Pues cruzan fronteras en las alas del viento.

Hay corazon mio que tanto te duele,
Si supieras lo tanto que hay que decir,
Mi voz y mi mente dicen que te consuele,
Pero algunas cosas no son facil de traducir.
Tu sientes aquello que quema por dentro,
Y no puedo seguir con los brazos cruzados,
Aquel guerrillero se encuentra en el centro
De aquellas tormentas que an creado dos lados.

Mi cielo se mira en el espejo del rio,
El sol llega y corona al amanecer,
El pueblo aquel se encuentra dividido
En tierra indigena donde vine a nacer.
Mi alma rebelde se encuentra dispuesto,
No hay consecuencia que me mantenga callado,
Al rio yo vengo a reclamar lo nuestro,
Pero veo que nadie se encuentra a mi lado.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

The United States, Inc.

2012-01-05T21:03:00.006-07:00

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It’s one big bag of tricks,
Robbery is the game,
Organized crime and politics
Are one and the same,
A bought-out nation,
Just too over-rated,
One big complication—
The United States, Incorporated.

Business as usual,
Top stories are scripted,
Children lose what is crucial,
The old ones get evicted.
It’s a silence that’s deadly,
The truth goes unstated,
Liars act friendly—
The United States, Incorporated.

You are born into debt,
There is just digging deeper,
Of the dreams you once kept,
Not one was a keeper,
Always someone else’s dream,
Part of being indoctrinated,
One big bank-rolling scheme—
The United States, Incorporated.

Add up your wealth,
You won’t get what you need,
They will disrupt your health
With the new dying seed,
It sprouts razor wire,
You can’t get situated,
You get burned in the fire—
The United States, Incorporated.

Survival is futile,
You are part of the process,
Guilty without trial,
You belong to the bosses,
And the bosses are sell-outs,
They swear they have made it,
For you there are no bail-outs—
The United States, Incorporated.

This one’s for the share-holders,
There is no acting casual,
The cleansing moves boulders
To remove all that is un-natural,
It rolls over the landscape,
The fantasy gets devastated,
There is no chance for escape—
The United States, Incorporated.

© Manuel Lozano 2012

2012-01-02T14:14:00.001-07:00

Red, White and Blue

2011-11-29T16:25:00.012-07:00

Your homeland is in danger,
Just like your dreams,
The sky and the mountains,
The rivers and streams,
And everything in them,
They’re coming for you,
Broken treaties and promises
In red, white and blue.

The menace advances,
The fencing sprouts thorns,
It all gets divided,
No old flower adorns.
Every garden is trampled,
No more sweet morning dew,
Lines will be drawn
In red, white and blue.

The old ways are threatened,
All customs now fade,
The nightmare that’s roaring
Is American made.
Like a midnight conductor,
It’s rumbling through,
The oppressors are coming
In red, white and blue.

They aim for your children,
To make them forget,
They fill them with poison
And no self respect.
Their names will be taken,
The old dies with the new,
History will be re-told
In red, white and blue.

It’s all repetition,
A progress that kills,
Trades bad-medicine bags
For crisp dollar bills.
The new tradition erupts,
See the volcano spew,
Death and destruction
In red, white and blue.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

"Builder Gutzon Borglum was, at one time in his life, a powerful member of the Ku Klux Klan, the nationalist, white supremacist organization created after the fall of the South in the American Civil War. He held a Lifetime Membership, was on their payroll for the Stone Mountain project, and he was also known to be a member of the Imperial Koncilium, a council of high ranking Klansmen who oversaw the transfer of power from one Imperial Wizard to another."
http://rushmore.wingfoot.org/white2.html

Soñador

2011-10-24T15:22:00.046-06:00

Corazon insurgente,
Por hay navegando sin pasamontañas,
Donde el rocio deja tiras de diamantes
Por el amanecer en las telarañas.
Buscas como todos los soñadores
A ese huipil de mil colores
Que le llama al colibrí.
Con el machete de sus defensas,
Con su fuerza y sus trenzas
Se me hizo que la vi.

Ni siquiera la pense,
Deje mis huellas en el camino,
Por jardines de flores con espinas,
La lucha a sido siempre el destino.
Es su rituo y el copal
En la tierra sagrada del nopal
Que le llama al colibrí.
Entre sueños y maizales,
Por el pueblo de murales,
Como loco la segui.

A que vida pasajera
Que como rayo se apresura,
En su rapidez mire sus alas
Al sufrir esta dulce locura.
El tiempo suspendido aun desaparecia,
Y es el canto de su digna rebeldia
Que le llama al colibrí.
Contra una pesadilla capitalista,
Y su ritmo Zapatista
Se venia hacia mi.

Hay, que chula morenita
Con su piel color de tierra,
Tiene que ser gema de Anahuac
Para aver nacido guerrillera.
Como peliar, si no a su lado?
Es la comandante al soldado
Que le llama al colibrí.
Sagrada de nacimiento,
Entre el centro del mundo y el viento,
No se como ni donde la perdi.

Sin opciones de rendirme,
Este sueño loco me invade,
Ella iba rumbo su proposito
Con su corazon de jade.
Eran escenas de todo lo bello
Cuando perdi señal de todo aquello
Que le llama al colibrí.
Como estrella fugaz por la madrugada,
Ni la obsidiana de su mirada
Podre decir que conoci.

Rondando ha sido mi esperanza
Siquiera ver de lejos su pañuelo,
De pronto ese huipil de mil colores
Aparecio en medio vuelo.
De esta revolucion cuentan los sabios,
Es el cacao de sus labios
Que le llama al colibrí.
Que me diera chance de tratarla,
Pero ya no pude ni soñarla
Cuando me estremeci.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

In Times of Drought

2011-09-09T16:49:00.010-06:00

I was looking for beauty under the stars
And found the depths of garden tombs,
I tried concealing no visible scars
While I exposed my opened wounds.
No cure around could keep me from dying,
The one that blooms was slowly drying
And I could see her petals starting to decay,
I heard the angels above were sighing
While I bowed my head to pray.

The madness had been stretched out,
Some might call it elongated,
The ground cracked open in the drought,
And my lovely blossom was ill-fated.
It was too hard to turn the dirt,
The petals shriveled at her skirt
And I lost the fragrance of my rose,
She was deep rooted where the senses hurt
And hopes and dreams slowly decompose.

The hot night never slowed down,
But it never really followed through,
They prepared for us a thorny crown
In barren land where nothing grew.
The wrath of time would never pardon,
My vibrant flower began to harden
And I swear I could feel it on my skin,
Her kingdom collapsed throughout the garden
In the place where all conclusions begin.

It was becoming hard to see,
The deepest well was filled with sand,
Those colors faded in front of me
As disaster struck our once fertile land.
Now this is what my dream portrays,
I lost the beauty of my wild bouquets
In the rugged terrain that doesn’t forgive,
Those blessed showers from those wild days
No longer said there was much to live.

I slowly wither under the naked sky
Since we last saw the dewdrop glimmer,
My beauty in mid-bloom could not get by
As the moonlight kept growing dimmer.
In breathless fields the end was born,
There was no more splendor to adorn
As the dry soil could not be nursed —
They pierced my side with wicked thorn
The day my true love died from thirst.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

And then the drought died...

En el Desierto de Chihuahua...

2011-08-10T15:05:00.001-06:00

-Ancient Tactics-

2011-07-25T14:11:00.004-06:00

Divide and conquer—
It’s a fast disintegration.

I see my carnalas and carnales
With foreheads of beautiful nopales
Working for the immigration,
Hiding their beautiful brown in green disguise—
Hunting hummingbirds and butterflies.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Beautiful desert flower...

2011-07-20T19:06:00.003-06:00

2011-07-15T16:28:00.000-06:00

Lead With Your Heart

2011-07-01T13:47:00.003-06:00

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No time to think, reflex acts quicker,
Some things are best said like this,
The veil goes on and the fog gets thicker
And there is nothing to dismiss.

There’s no having it planned out,
The ship is sinking in the drought,
And the anchor needs some settling.
Survival of the fittest is in full effect,
There’s something to suspect
When you’re dealing with all those peddling.

The spokes just keep on turning,
There is no time to have a practice drill,
There is no room for learning
When you’re speeding down the hill.

The slope is just too steep
Where the mountain goats get their sleep
And the fall will cradle your misfortune.
Even the ice caps melt,
And the stars on Orion’s belt
Shuffle light in the distortion.

The blur is just a haze,
Mystified by random water droplets,
The one speaking multitude in phrase
Demands you communicate in couplets.

Bring along your feathered pen,
Your quill dipped in the well of wise men
To spiral the vowels of your calligraphy.
The contract was broken one day,
Where one was made on a bed of clay
To write an autobiography.

Even an echo takes time to respond,
But it’s acoustic sound waves are hollow,
And a magician before waving a wand
Makes sure he uses a prop he can swallow.

The room is spacious in the collapsible hat,
But the rabbit has just grown too fat,
And the pigeons suffer from delusion.
You must put up a fight,
When the lady cut in half sings at night
You can get caught in the illusion.

So arrange every piece of the puzzle
When the smoke clears and mirrors shatter apart,
At the moment of flexing every muscle
I hope you have time to lead with your heart.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Flower and Song...for my Sisters and Brothers who always rise up for a just cause. Forever writing/Forever figting.

2011-06-11T13:29:00.013-06:00

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The sinister mister walks crooked lines
That look straight and pretty while moving along,
Like a number five twister conditioning minds
With a bag full of pity he whistles his song.
The path of destruction is right at his heels,
From dead on it all looks quite ordinary,
In his cage of corruption and no court of appeals
The song has been long gone from that yellow canary.

The shady lady builds up her ivory empire
With tentacles outstretched in every direction,
At the ripe age of eighty she spreads her fire
With the cruelty etched on a new generation.
While grinning she polishes her jewel encrustations
Where angles reflect the plight of the people,
With a pen she demolishes third world nations
Where foaming monsters erect an old broken steeple.

The trickster hipster offers a quick taste
To calm the nerves and ease the cruel pain,
A handler and tipster with no time to waste,
He says one deserves to numb up the brain.
Prescribing the madness is one form of control,
It alters the senses and veils the true source,
With a case of the sadness they infect the soul
And blame consequence on life’s natural course.

The lender pretender offers assistance
While betting there’s no chance for them to collect,
Like a repeat offender showing no resistance,
He takes a bad circumstance and puts it deeper in debt.
Then foreign investors leach on with their bundles,
While the dreamers awaken to take a turn for the worse,
Just like their ancestors in the deserts and jungles
They are visibly shaken by the repeating curse.

The abductor instructor belts out the guidelines
That sway the masses to bow down to false idols,
A false conductor within solid gold shrines
He says all trespasses are pardoned thanks his titles.
This substitute teacher organizes book burnings
As he says that a vision said they needed updating,
A sabotage preacher taking a part of your earnings
He says his one mission is protection from what is invading.

The loud crowd drowns out all other suggestions
That seem beneficial only in their legal dialect,
Toward dark cloud surroundings it asks no more questions
When the answer that is official only has a lie to protect.
Bright beams pierce through the madness that hovers,
They shed light on the fact that the peasants stand strong,
There’s nothing new in the true story one uncovers,
The people react with their ancient flower and song.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Hummingbirds and Butterflies

2011-05-27T17:26:00.006-06:00

You’ll get the truth fast,
Once they make it right up,
The past was a blast
That grew more corrupt.
No one knew what was next,
There were lies in the text
Written down as history,
And the cloaked took their turn
To watch the codices burn
While distributing more misery.

Who would have thought
That time would move faster?
With the same war still being fought
Over half a millennium after.
One continuous crooked line
Of hatred and crime
Against all those made of corn.
Because your skin is brown
They’ll try keeping you down
Since the day you are born.

This is a bad place to wander
From your perch on the cactus,
Your wild call of thunder
Makes you target practice,
And yet we take flight
As we sing and we write,
And take part in the old battle.
In these ancient routes that we take
We still hold on to the snake
With diamonds and warning rattle.

Sweet rebellious warrior spirit
You chant with your drum beats,
Tomorrow can hear it
Through today’s dirt road streets.
It moves swiftly along
With its pulse in its song
Traveling the distance.
It’s a whirlwind of power,
With your eloquent flower
Spreading seeds of resistance.

We offer our contribution
With pendants of jade and gold,
In an old revolution
To make sure our story is told,
And the story we tell
Is that of all those that rebel
So the wild flowers can thrive.
Brown buffalo eyes,
Hummingbirds and butterflies
Keeping our own story alive.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

From the Rough Side of Town

2011-05-13T19:45:00.003-06:00

Papalotl

2011-05-04T00:20:00.001-06:00

I often think of butterflies
Zigzagging along through open skies,
In the cool breeze early at sunrise
When the morning dew collects.
The colors shine so bold and bright,
And each perfume drop reflects
The burning lantern of the newborn light.

No one said the sweet dream was done,
But the flutter of wings was suddenly gone,
After ten paces pistols are drawn
And bullets cannot distribute the pollen.
It torments me to think of such shameful hour,
I knew the angel of mercy had fallen
When the fields lost every dancing flower.

The twilight came and went,
It left its imprint on the hard cement,
And I can’t anticipate such a miraculous event
Like when those monarchs swarmed in season.
Now there is no such royalty,
And all those not charged with treason
Will stand accused of not showing any loyalty.

That quick motion flicker faded in transition,
Its stages interrupted by new tradition,
Punctured and wounded by the ammunition
Described by the spitfire of some prophet of doom.
Innocence suffered in the speed and momentum
As the iron-clad shadows ravaged every cocoon
And stripped the colors off the spectrum.

Those waltzing flowers cross through my thoughts,
And I’m too busy dodging random gunshots,
The once fertile gardens are now vast empty lots
Where only the memory lingers of those butterflies.
They vanished from view long before the frost,
And now I reflect on bright beams through open skies,
But the memory only reminds me it’s all been lost.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Ritmo Insurgente

2011-04-26T14:37:00.005-06:00

La gente despierta,
Ya no es como antes,
Todo está en alerta,
Te prohiben que cantes,
Y para la ocasión
Llega esta canción
Con tambor y danzantes
En el corazón.

Hay ritmo insurgente
Que bien te concentras
Con una flor diferente
En donde te encuentras.
Con las tintas sagradas,
Negras/coloradas,
Y estrella le entras
Cruzando lineas marcadas.

Sonaja del tiempo,
Tu rima se escucha,
Las alas de viento
Platican tu lucha.
Aquel manantial
Lindo y natural
Solo desembucha
Que todo es especial.

Dulce melodía,
Sabe bien lo que hace,
Con su rebeldía
Escrita en cada frase.
Sola se somete,
Guerrera jinete
Que viene y nace
Afilando el machete.

Por hay nos miramos
Sin preocupacion,
Mientras cantamos
Nustra propia cancion.
Gallos de pelea,
Sea como sea,
Habren el corazon
Para que uno vea.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Dip In The Sway

2011-04-14T15:51:00.007-06:00

I’ve been in strange places
More than a few times,
I marked all the aces,
And ignored all the signs.
What else can I say?
There was nothing to do,
But to dip in the sway
Of the new morning dew.

I’ve seen gardens grow,
Picked a few flowers,
Witnessed the skyline glow
From the ancient towers,
And I had to deliver,
For those in their storms,
To the queen up the river
A bouquet of thorns.

The barriers were broken,
Shattered to bits,
No truth is spoken
Where the leader now sits,
And I came down gliding,
With no time to hitch-hike,
To the king now presiding
I brought a railroad spike.

I was battered an bruised,
Pursued and haunted,
I stood there accused
Of whatever they wanted.
I had to defeat ‘em,
There was no other choice,
There was really no freedom
To the truth in my voice.

That’s why I holler,
Because I’m in the middle,
Where the mighty dollar
Gets you lost in the riddle.
They stomp on the masses
While conditioning a mule,
So I skipped all their classes
To attend my own school.

The people had nodded,
They called me toward them,
And amidst all that had rotted
They would give me a gem,
That liberty is really treason
Hoaxed to do wrong,
And I always stopped to listen
To just the right song.

The echo persists
In strange places like this,
Where its turns and its twists
Make me stop and reminisce,
And I rise up each morning
To crack the bull whip,
And the dew drop keeps forming
As I take a dip.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Unnatural Causes

2011-04-10T18:09:00.003-06:00

I felt the walls tremble
And then I broke through,
I never stopped for a moment,
But I always felt I could come back to you.
Underneath celestial adornment
I had wild dreams to pursue
Clinging to cloud cover drifting along,
Madly resisting stillness and form
Where flashes of light can do no wrong
Even in the midst of a storm.

There for an instant
Is where I took my rest,
In the cool shade of a giant sequoia,
Silently pondering my adventurous quest,
Free from all sense of paranoia
As my eyelids curled into the eagle’s nest
From where the vision takes flight.
Looking out past the branches
Where darkness intertwines with the light,
The dreamer persisted restless and anxious.

I began seeing the newborn horizon
And everything that could ever come after,
But I awoke to no songbirds,
So for an instant I thought of your laughter,
It reminded me of the ancient words
That warned about unnatural disaster
Looming beyond what arcs like a bow,
Savagely plotting to render us pure
At a time and a place with nothing to know
Because the finale is the only possible cure.

That was the true nightmare
And I awoke when the process had started,
The truth had somehow exploded,
And it seemed no secret could be well guarded,
The shade must’ve been too devoted
To the giant redwood that somehow departed
With its roots still anchored to the distant past.
I could never say the land would conspire,
But it would’ve been better for no shadow to be cast
Because equilibrium spread its wild fire.

I must have dozed off for a lifetime
The instant I stopped for a quick slumber,
With the masterminds of ravage and profit infesting,
And the contraptions of chaos pulling my number,
The creatures a-crawling came out investing
Where the eye of the beholder sees only lumber
And natural beauty decays in the wallet.
They cleared the land so that nothing rots,
And I wouldn’t even know what to call it
In the barren wastelands of vast parking lots.

There for an eternity I remembered you singing,
Breaking silence with your perfect rendition,
The curvature of the horizon in brilliant splendor
Had a clear view of the perfect vision,
Until the arrival of the sidestepping vendor
Who invokes forces of a self-destructive condition
As you bargain your way to the bottom.
There’s nowhere left for you to make your melodious sound,
Oh, how I wish I could blame it on something like autumn
When they came and took every tree down.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Ocotillo y Nopales

2011-04-05T16:35:00.001-06:00

Dices que no me amaste,
Y yo recuerdo averme perdido
Aquellas veces que suspiraste
Con la luna acurrucada en su nido.
La briza nos acariciaba,
Y tu mirada me iluminaba
Mientras el terciopelo alli tendido
De dulce alegria se estrellaba.

Como decir que haz olvidado?
Los pajarillos brindaban serenata
Mientras el oro era bienvenido
Despues de despedir el disco de plata.
Vimos llegar el nuevo dia,
Y el campo elegremente florecia
Mientras el colibrí con su sonata
En verso todo lo describia.

Vimos pasar las horas,
El reloj corrio sus manecillas
Con sus inquietudes cumplidoras
En un jardin de seguidoras amarillas.
Las mariposas navegantes
Con sus velos de mil diamantes
Seguian su rumbo de maravillas
Al compas de los danzantes.

Entre visiones le seguimos,
Los chapulines sonreian
Mientras recorriamos lindos caminos
Entre sueños que no dormian.
Nuestro pulso hablaba en rima,
Con su eco retumbando en la cima
De montañas que aun crecian
Hacia la luz y su medicina.

Que hermoso atardecer
Que de colores se despide,
El dia nacido para envejecer
En un rincon para y se mide.
Apoco todo esta borroso?
El destino se lleva lo hermoso
Dejando huella para que no se olvide
El mundo de un cuento contagioso.

Asi acabo la primavera,
Cosa de procesos naturales,
En los paisages de la vida pasajera
Nos perdimos entre los espirales.
Ah, que tiempo que insistio,
Y a su propia manera se divertio,
Nuestro camino de ocotillo y nopales
Hacia dos rumbos distinctos se partio.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Made By Man

2011-03-30T13:15:00.000-06:00

It’s hard to look some other away,
The bad lands always come and go,
In here the shadows come up to play
From the levels down below.
The rubble is piled up everywhere,
You have to get by how you can,
This is a living nightmare—
It was made by man.

They monitor your movement,
And call it your protection,
In your quest for self improvement
They will guide you with direction.
Give up your private property
As they set up your downfall,
It’s your right to lose your liberty—
It was made by law.

Surrender your thought process,
For your customs they will get you,
Plow through for your bosses,
From far away they will detect you.
They got you from the start,
The nutrients morphed into dead creations
Where monsters fill your shopping cart—
It was made by corporations.

Send your children to their classes,
Television eases the heavy burden,
Indoctrinated into the masses,
Pop culture will teach them for certain.
Advertisers make their contribution,
Logos bombard your double vision,
The veil is but an illusion—
It was made by a magician.

The vice like grip is getting tighter,
It holds you dangling over and out,
In here it’s a blessing to be an outsider
When the seeds you plant have beauty to sprout.
A link in the chain is just one more captive
Convinced that the truth is always spoken,
This cycle of madness will not remain active—
It was made to be broken.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Lonely Crowd...for Ana Lopez

2011-03-22T14:02:00.002-06:00

Sing your song out loud,
Sing it sitting in a lonely crowd,
No other howl cuts as deep,
Sing it talking in your sleep
When the midnight moon is out,
Just close your eyes and belt it out.

What a lonesome serenade,
To get lost in such a masquerade,
Lingering only to remain unseen,
In the depths of some collective dream
That makes you sure you heard it all
In the echoes of some empty hall.

The quick jewels spread their steady hum,
Engage them with your beating drum,
They too know how hard it gets,
You follow through with no regrets,
Zipping by like something rare,
A multi-color blur that wasn’t there.

It often comes without warning,
Simply go on, keep on performing,
It is true that there is no tomorrow,
Drench each note deep in that sorrow
That insists time tends to take its time
With no one there to share the mind.

The wind chimes know your tragic tune,
In stillness comes a falling gloom,
You need some movement for the gentle flow,
Natural brilliance with no artificial glow,
A rhythm synchronized with thought,
The cool breeze fanning when its hot.

The voice within will drift along,
Sing the remnants of your lonesome song,
Its wings will take it all the way
Where other voices have the same to say
About how much it really hurts
To feel so lonesome amidst so many birds.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

2011-02-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

Ancient Melody

2011-01-29T16:14:00.001-07:00

All you have to do is be,
To let your pulse be melody,
Your heartbeat is the pounding drum,
Your palms together birds that hum,
Your stomping feet stampedes that roar,
And every breath a note upon this dance floor.

That is the one I call my cosmic dance,
A revolution deep in trance,
The dream deprived of any sleep,
The rhythmic pulse just flowing deep,
Each chord progressing with its natural flow
Knows that music takes it where life wants to go.

The path you walk is a working phrase,
Composed to lead you through this crazy place,
A verse for every move you make,
The lyrics shaped by the road you take,
It’s give and take and take to give,
The timing knows what to achieve.

The echo always follows through,
The chorus sweetened by the morning dew,
The whirlwind sings in a spiral shell,
The mellow mood is a place to dwell,
Well aware that the way it is isn’t immune
To changing the beat to stay in tune.

The tempo knows how to adapt,
You build a bridge away from being trapped,
It makes you stronger as the days grow old,
It gives you jade adorned with gold,
It’s part of our collective memory—
Just take it back to the ancient melody.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

Like A Beam

2011-01-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

Quetzalli

2011-01-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

The resplendent sing to me,
They tell of fighting for their victory,
Of music fading from the treetops
Brought down by the company.
Each tenor knows no song adopts
To the silence of the cold black night,
Their feathers ruffled in the fight
Refract the light throughout eternity.

The wind whispers in my ear,
Then follows the river out of here
With its sails drifting along,
Into a place where all is clear,
Waltzing through to follow the song
That bounces off the painted walls.
I heard its roar like water falls
Where beauty calls to hold you dear.

The journey takes me through,
In an eternal moment that is old and new,
To where bold colors abound.
I drink the waters of the morning dew
While listening to the rhythmic sound
Paying homage to the fertile soil.
To no chains will I prove loyal,
Not with so much to pursue.

The orange flowers know I’m not immune,
I'll take in their sweet perfume,
And forget whatever stayed behind,
Except the arrangements of each iridescent plume.
Each green adornment lingers in my mind,
With every note still hanging high-
I fight to hear the beauty that shall never die
With every pulse echoing your melodic tune.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

The Grid-Like Accumulation

2011-01-04T04:46:00.001-07:00

Look Up! Look Up!/Chemtrails Over the City

2011-01-03T14:30:00.001-07:00

Evil displays its self promotion,
Chemtrails over the ocean,
Fibers in the air,
Riding the jet stream,
Drifting into the dream,
Catching everyone unaware.

No heart and no pity,
Chemtrails over the city,
Fibers in the air,
The modern unnatural death,
Just take in one more breath
And you’ll be there.

Every NATO country spraying,
Chemtrails over children playing,
Fibers in the air,
The dust always settles,
With the kids absorbing metals,
And high levels in their hair.

Barium and aluminum,
Chemtrails over every bread crumb,
Fibers in the air,
No natural cloud formation,
The grid-like accumulation
Poisons everything everywhere.

Soon nothing yours will grow,
Chemtrails over gardens down below,
Fibers in the air,
Only the manipulated will sprout,
While the mad creators shout
That the new seed answers your prayer.

The haze distorts the setting sun,
Chemtrails over each and everyone,
Fibers in the air,
Of course it’s for your own good,
The system says it should
Show you how much they really care.

This one’s for the pilot’s flying,
Chemtrails over your bloodline dying,
Fibers in the air,
You follow orders without a thought,
Trained to give it all you’ve got,
You and yours breathe in the same nightmare.

© Manuel Lozano 2011

2010-12-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

2010-12-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

Mexico

2010-12-03T20:25:00.004-07:00

Mexico

I
Desde aqui te acaricio,
en este puño
de tierra que a pintado
mi piel con el color de la tuya
para encontrarse en ella.

Bajo este cielo nublado,
triste y atormentado
que no pierde
su luz de ersperanza.

Entre el ayer y el ahora,
pensando que el mañana
se queda estancado muy lejos,
fuera del alcanze.

II

Se que me haz
soñado,
Lo senti cuando
el colibri
pinto el jardin
con sus versos
de dulce
apasionado.

En los colores
convivimos.
En el movimiento,
y sin divisiones
que hieren al cielo
y la tierra.

Sin fronteras nacimos.
Almas rebeldes
que no se marchitan
y retumban su eco
con los cantos del shaman
entrelazados con los
espirales catedrales
de Coyoxauqui.

De la danza nacimos.
Del polvo alimentado
en la milpa
de nuestros abuelos
la noche aquella
que cuatro flechas
de la montaña saltaron
con sus ranas/placasos
de Anahuac
hacia las cuatro
esquinas
sagradas.

Somos la rima,
el son y el latido,
cantando a la vida
con las cuerdas
del quetzal y las
cascabeles del
coatl/sonajas
de Aztlan
estremeciendo
el silencio.

III

Sin perdernos seguimos.
Entre estos granos de
arena que el tiempo
conserva en esta duna
de muslos y torzos
pulverizados
entre los huesos
del maiz
que regresan
al barro
mientras cae
suavemente,
muy lentamente,
muy cariñosamente
entre mis dedos
esta tierra
sagrada que es la misma
que cobija mi raiz
conectada a la tuya.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

The Place To Be

2010-11-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

The place to be
Is the place to watch,
Nobody’s free,
Too much to dodge.
The willows weep,
And children sleep
On broken glass.
It’s just a fact,
The Patriot Act
Will kick your ass.

The old is gone
Where whirlwinds yearn,
The new red dawn
Will take its turn,
But not before
Declaring war
On ruined time.
Unhinged jaw,
The young ones fall
Before their prime.

The witness sees
What isn’t shared,
New victories
Have been declared.
Suffer the wrath,
Your autograph
Demands no penmanship.
They’ll show you how,
The bosses now
Will crack the whip.

The peasants talk
Amongst themselves,
Down in the chalk,
Fairy tales on bookshelves.
It all gets fabricated,
Always infiltrated
By the sidewinder
Sidestepping ahead,
Planting hate in your head
As a constant reminder.

The road map through
Is a downward spiral,
What is brand new
Comes from your rival.
The old is ignored,
With your reward
A twisted knot.
Trained to consume,
The path toward doom
Will hit the spot.

It all relates
To twisted schemes,
Through occult gates
They enter your dreams.
The voices sway
To give away
Your sense of being.
Caught on a hook,
Just take a look
At what you’re seeing.

This is the place,
The burning village,
With a smiling face
They rape and pillage.
You know the ones,
They takes your guns
And liberty.
Nobody cares,
The new repairs
Will kill democracy.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Last Words

2010-11-11T21:04:00.002-07:00

She came to me in crazy twisted dreams,
Said, “Everything is exactly as it seems,
The cutting edge is everywhere,
And it all sprouts into a living nightmare.”
I opened my eyes and took a glance
Across the dimming room at mystery’s circumstance
Dressing up before the antique dresser.
In her woven bag she had my beating heart,
I somehow thought I could out-guess her,
But she had me right from the start.

“Take your chance on a broken bottle,
Might as well drown in a little puddle,”
She looked at me and licked her lips,
Tapped her foot and rocked her hips,
Continued, “Nothing is better than this rant,
You wish to catch me, but you can’t,
In here it is the phrasing that is twisted.”
She swirled her drink and took a swig,
Put her index finger to her lips and kissed it,
Yes, my broken dreams were always big.

Which way was out I wondered?
My thoughts were too wild to be plundered,
Words are more than just communication,
Her eyes were weary of interpretation.
I knew that silence was my only choice,
At least until she asked to hear my voice
Recite some sort of wicked verse.
I knew she felt she had it made,
I thought about that rant of hers,
Her voice was some enticing serenade.

Her tender ways came shining through,
Her dress constricting with its cobalt blue,
She lit a match and took a drag,
The rising smoke a ship with pirate’s flag.
It dipped and swayed then sailed along,
I kept thinking about her siren song
Taunting me to give some sort of chase.
All traces of reality had long since blurred,
My pulse was speeding through the race,
But still I didn’t say a single word.

Smiling she said, “You seem so quiet,
Cats as yourself seek the night to defy it,
I bet without darkness you’d put up no fight,
I see you constantly leaning into the light.”
Clearly I thought that it was more than wordplay,
It all turned to black pearls the philosophical way
As she swallowed me whole with the corner of her eye.
Turning she asked me, “So what is the plan?”
Her shoulders were ravens reaching for the sky,
And I answered, “I’m trying as best as I can.”

Her radiance flickered with my response,
The ravens exploded and turned into swans,
I squinted my eyes, but before I could think,
She reached for the bottle and poured me a drink.
The liquid red velvet poured into the glass
As another ship drifted with flag at half mast
In the sea of commotion that just disappeared.
From the mouth of her dragon arose ribbons of smoke,
And from her lungs phantom ships steered
Past her chocolate red lips every time that she spoke.

In her eyes I could see how serious she was,
She said, “You want something like every man does,
Maybe you are looking for what cannot be found,
You tip-toe through shadows not making a sound,
Or is it perhaps that you’re showing resistance?
Cats as yourself disappear into the distance
Where it all shrinks down into the vanishing point.”
She puffed on her dragon with one hand on her hip,
Then winked her eye at me as she passed me her joint,
I took in the madness then sunk her third ship.

I too could play keep away I thought,
Especially while holding my breath between every shot,
I forced her to watch her dragon turn into a gargoyle,
Then her sea of commotion that ran into dry soil.
There at the shoreline seagulls are perching
Upon the skulls of her pirates that went out searching
For the edge of existence that recedes into forever.
I’m certain she felt my pulse through the hardwood floor,
I took in one last long drag then went on to sever
The head of her gargoyle after it let out one final roar.

“The crossroads could be anywhere,” she told me,
“The pleasures of life come to those that hold me.
Or was it to those that don’t play keep away?”
I didn’t even think of connecting the black to the gray,
My actions resulted from a need to survive,
Her dragon was doomed after being handed over alive,
And there was no chance her gargoyle keep its own mind.
She went on, “Everyone gets over their initial nervousness.
In the presence of beauty you will come to find
That all feelings of mad bliss require my services.”

I wondered a bit about her magic touch,
The difference between pleasure and pain is never that much,
Her brown eyes were spear points that pierced me head on,
She could tell I was looking to somehow spread dawn.
I knew she was willing to help me ignite it,
What I wanted to do was catch the first beam and ride it
Right into the realm that simply keeps going.
Perhaps she knew places that have never been haunted,
She asked, “Why go upstream if you know you’re not rowing?”
I saw her straight on and then I just grunted.

It was more than just conscience that kept me silent,
The screams at the intersection were always too violent,
She was instrumental at helping distort them,
She knew I admired both the petals and the thorns on the stem.
Impulse itself would never allow me to follow the leader,
All this talk about bodies of water just turned up the heater
As I went against everything coming toward me.
She puckered her lips to help me forget,
My rebellious tendencies would always reward me,
But this was the first time these opposite forces had met.

The surface reflection has it all to depict,
The current was something I learned to contradict,
The heat wave came rising in no hurry to settle,
I wondered how she did it to quench every petal.
She said, “It ain’t easy when everything is dying,”
Leaning toward me she rambled on about every well drying
As the rapids descending beat against my chest.
Who would have known the whole thing could have been cursed?
In my desperation there was no further need to protest,
I reached for the liquid red velvet and quenched my thirst.

She was coming toward me with forward momentum,
Her radiance flashed through every color of the spectrum,
She said something that garbled with her unusual intention,
And just as usual I was not paying too much attention.
I was thinking the temporal was merely for mortals
As I dove in head on through those obsidian portals
Into a whirlpool vortex spun right into oblivion.
In my delirium absence took over without hesitation,
I always respected the properties of sacred obsidian,
And maybe I was thinking it was all in my imagination.

That ruby-red iron solution was quite a concoction,
Even I thought I’d fall for the old time seduction,
This modern rendition was quick and updated,
In a visionary way I felt I had somehow made it.
Even the whirlwind deciphered what I was thinking,
There was nothing else there when it all went down sinking
In an ancient conspiracy that brews the right blend.
Her curvature came flashing and I tasted her tongue,
Jade pendants were dangling and I would look for no end
With her inner thigh flashing and the moment so young.

All I can say is that time just stood still,
Trampling through thorn bushes I lost all power of will,
I still didn’t know if she was my ally or rival,
I felt her soft lips and the ceiling went around in a spiral.
It all compelled me to get lost in the rapture,
This hummingbird played hard, always evading capture
To the point where surrender was a dead man’s confession.
The moment was speeding through my adventurous quest,
And I didn’t even get to ask what was her profession
As she plunged an obsidian blade just under my chest.

The timing was perfect to regain consciousness,
Tinkering with mysterious forces has its consequence,
With a flick of her wrist she’d set me to wander,
The light poured out in one flash as I got pulled under.
I never felt there was a reason to really impress her,
Now she just fixes half of her hair before the antique dresser
With my last words lost back there not even worth repeating.
It never occurred to me to put up a white flag,
The equivalent here as I heard a faint beating
To the place I find myself in with my heart in her woven bag.
© Manuel Lozano 2010

The Place Where My Heart Grew Wild - Northeast El Chuco, Texas 915

2010-10-15T23:46:00.000-06:00

Time to Shine/Out of the Dark

2010-10-09T19:42:00.000-06:00

Out of nowhere it was time,
Time to rebel, time to shine,
To pierce the dark overcast
And redefine the old uprise.
This one’s for all those from the past,
For all those seeking paradise
In a land where tyrants rule.
Control the feed, control the mule,
Work goes up, the pay goes down,
Look what happened to our sacred jewel,
The jester wears it on his makeshift crown.

In with wild thunder,
With full force, a natural wonder,
In the midst of the ongoing storm
With no time to ponder what’s coming next.
This one’s for all those with humble form,
The common list of usual suspects
That still emit the natural light.
Destroy the day, veil the night,
The stage is set, the curtains drawn,
The ones below suffer their plight
Because the top exploits what it’s sitting on.

There is no room to understand,
The hidden truth, some contraband,
It all relates to what is hidden
With the task at hand an ongoing nightmare.
This one’s for all those who are bedridden,
This is the madness that we share
In dreams that take a turn for the worse.
Twisted vision, whispered curse,
It’s all the same, nothing’s unique,
The left and the right side converse
About those left out that shall never speak.

There’s no surrender,
We the people, deemed the big spender,
Screaming out loud point the middle finger
At the legal tender with the eye on the price.
This one’s for all those who do not linger,
We take up arms against the enterprise
Who vows to keep the family defeated.
It is written, you can read it,
In these lines, in rhythmic melody,
We rise up and do whatever’s needed
To protect our family.

Just like that the time was here,
The veil burned, the smoke blown clear,
The skyline fractured with the lightning bolt
And we do not fear the road we’ve got to take.
This one’s for all those who revolt,
For the ones intact where fractures break
The tight grip of the ivory tower.
It’s us that lead, we have the power,
This land is ours, both yours and mine,
And in the depths of this darkest hour
It is indeed our time to shine.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

The Peasant’s Reality/New Civil Duty - a.k.a. The Thinning of the Herd

2010-09-21T15:30:00.001-06:00

Everything happens because of precaution,
And so they step in to take control,
You can follow their instruction
As you give up every goal.
The dream just gets shorter,
And you will follow every order
As they tell you to give up every right,
And in exchange to show they really care,
They will provide the gruesome nightmare
Just to get you through the broken night.

The dispensers of trauma infiltrate,
They take your leg and take your arm,
The interest rate can only devastate,
And then they take your farm.
That’s the way that it should be
In the dying land of liberty
Where monsters line their pockets green,
As the lenders making night from day
Lend to those they know couldn’t possibly pay
Just to put out their American dream.

Root systems fail where heartbreaks unfold,
Manipulated with modern madness inventions,
As every emotion is handed out cold,
Laced with the ideals of blood and vengeance.
The kind that says migrants take what is yours,
While the system itself runs on all fours
To corporate gatherings to discuss legislature.
It’s there that they decide what to feed you,
And the printed labels only mislead you,
Saying that nothing breaks the laws of nature.

It always explodes in the temperate city,
It’s got nothing to do with temperatures rising,
They groom the charismatic, the popular and witty
To enter your senses with a speech so enticing,
That all of the informers will begin to quote it,
Leaving out the part of who actually wrote it,
And why the language resembles psychological warfare.
The bombardment of senses is a daily process,
While the workers are forced to bow to their bosses
In a state of existence in this handed out nightmare.

That is the bad pill that you’ve come to swallow,
Lined up in crooked lines for the inoculation,
The vision now twisted just seems too hollow,
With spreading disease sent out through open invitation,
Soon to be mandatory just to be on the safe side,
While elephants trample and donkeys enjoy their ride
Laying waste to all aspects of American beauty.
So give up your weapons and all your possessions,
And come lose all hope in controlled recessions
As you’re forced to volunteer for your new civil duty.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Living The Dream

2010-08-31T23:45:00.000-06:00

Living the Dream

If I had been sleeping
I would’ve missed you,
And if you hadn’t been by me
I couldn’t have kissed you,
And all of this singing,
And all of this writing
Would not have been bringing
My dreams out of hiding.

We met at the crossing,
Brought over by fate,
We crossed each other’s path
With no time to wait,
And with all of this telling,
And so much confessing,
In our nights of rebelling
I began expressing.

Your flowers are perfect,
Your perfume is subtle,
We sought a horizon
Where we could cuddle,
And with all of this stardust,
And your diamonds a-glowing,
It is always a must
To forever keep going.

I had been looking for you,
I’d been rambling all alone,
I saw the mysterious
While I traveled the unknown,
And with all of this pleasure,
And the stars I pursue,
In the islands of treasure
I came to find you.

Now it’s just dreaming,
All day and all night,
In the immortal fires
Our passion burns bright,
And with all of this living,
And fighting to be free,
In the land of the unforgiving
I dream as you dream beside me.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

The Proletariat’s Plot/Machete Poem

2010-08-24T18:39:00.002-06:00

The privileged dangle their golden medallion,
They say if you work hard you can touch the sky,
Their biggest fear is the people’s rebellion,
The paupers will want their piece of the pie.
The eviction notice is stamped on your garden,
But the soft petals go dry only toward autumn,
And they will misquote us saying there is no pardon
For the agitators that rise up from the very bottom.

The picture is unclear in every exposure,
The flashcards show fields that never sprout,
They double the razor to create an enclosure
Out of the protection that kept the indigenous out.
Marching ants have been trained to just follow orders,
The uncommon will shout as the sun goes down sinking,
And the poor will be blamed by these foaming supporters
Who appose old tradition and all rebellious thinking.

Sleeping you find out waking up can be worse,
But that’s if you’re part of the walking dead,
Others, we wake up to get lost in verse
Knowing the fight has been on since the bad fire spread.
They’ll say that chaos is one form of cleansing
The sounds in the head that reject all compliance,
Then they will portray us as mad ones dispensing
All sorts of false hope that preaches defiance.

The peasants will rise up in orderly fashion,
Screaming injustice while holding it steady,
It is the suffering ones who have compassion
When morality is re-written on bits of confetti.
The pieces are scattered in the raging storm,
The pitchfork and machete never lay dormant,
And as if nothing else mattered the war takes a new form
When the hungry masses reject the old historical torment.

The new seed is altered in its infrastructure,
Suffocating varieties that don’t hold a patent,
The fencing will rise up and the levees will rupture,
Then the little individual will become combatant.
That’s when all dreaming will become real life,
The top will be saddened by the birth of its nightmare-
All of that scheming just so bacteria can thrive,
And all of a sudden the workers will want their fair share.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Unwritten Thoughts

2010-08-19T05:58:00.000-06:00

I’m going to miss you,
But the sun has to set,
The night will dismiss you
Into the hands of neglect.
The end is a must,
And you get lost in the dust
Where it all tends to forget.

Who would have thought?
And there was no time to wander,
We were born to get caught
Just by the roar of the thunder.
It was all too real,
And the timing was ideal
To get lost in the blunder.

There was so much to deliver,
And nothing to gain,
No one made it to the river,
We got lost in the rain.
There were no detours to take,
And we all made the mistake
Of not consulting the brain.

We were still within reach,
But nowhere to be found,
With the power of speech
Corrupting every sound.
Too scared to look within,
And enticed to breathe in
The dust on the ground.

There is no farewell
As the sun starts to sink,
In the depths of the well
There is always more ink,
But you get stuck in the past,
And I said something so fast
Without even stopping to think.

You will be missed,
Everything gets escorted,
Lost in the long list
Where too much goes unreported.
I put a lot of thought into it,
But now I must admit,
I had no chance to record it.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Xicano Blues

2010-08-03T22:49:00.005-06:00

There is no freedom in this place,
The nights are chained behind the gate,
The crooked lines upon each face
Tell the tale of each one’s fate.
Dead man seeking to induce,
La Calaca holding skeleton keys,
We gather and sing Xicano Blues
For all those oldie melodies.

The chain link wraps the battered dream,
Constricted so it cannot breathe,
You come here only to redeem
The token that pulls you underneath.
Sleep walking broken avenues,
The boulevard in coiled snake,
We gather and sing Xicano Blues
Where nightmares keep you wide awake.

The torture chamber is written law,
Recycled from the days of old,
The long-armed ones wear the claw
Where the truth shall not be told.
Heartbreak floods the daily news,
Dripping blood spells out each crime,
We gather and sing Xicano blues
For those who fell before their time.

Suppression is waist deep,
The story has long been blurred,
The imagination is put to sleep
As propaganda re-defines every word.
To question authority has no excuse,
Everything is put down the way it goes,
We gather and sing Xicano Blues
For the real story nobody knows.

The tale is twisted to the core,
Some might say it’s much more chaotic,
The more willing you are to fight a war,
The more they say you’re patriotic.
Self destruction has got a short fuse,
You get caught up in the quest to light it,
We gather and sing Xicano Blues
As the madness is ignited.

It all depends on point of view,
From somewhere else it looks inviting,
In here the shadows that pursue
Always hide from the natural lighting.
Some go out with nothing to lose,
They’re well rehearsed at taking hints,
We gather and sing Xicano Blues
With revolution on our fingerprints.

Rarely do the nights grow still,
We’re fighting for basic human rights,
But when that rareness does shoot up a chill,
The moonbeams pierce the black clad nights.
That’s when us hummingbirds escape these shoes,
And with the distant chimes of freedom ringing,
We gather and sing Xicano Blues
Just for the sake of singing.
© Manuel Lozano 2010

Celestial Flower

2010-08-01T12:53:00.000-06:00

You adorn me with your wild bouquets,
With the fragrance of your color scheme,
You ignite the skyline with your blaze
As we sink into our wildest dream
Where the flowers always bloom,
And the soft light of the midnight moon
Illuminates the path leading to the stars.

I never thought that it would rain,
Not the way it did this time around,
I dreamt the water would not drain
And drowned the seeds of the profound
Who planted orange flowers in your garden.
Nothing was ever granted full pardon,
And yet you showed no visible scars.

No one taught me to combat it,
I saw you do it from a distance,
It always seemed so automatic
That you were born to show resistance
To all those trying to confine you.
Of all the roads that they assign you,
You chose to pave your own.

It was always an ongoing battle,
Something more than the civilian’s war,
There were many who cast a shadow
That stretched across the marble floor
From the place where rules are laid out.
You always had a sense of doubt
About the place they called your home.

You were ready for survival,
For those four winds constantly blowing,
Your every move was archival,
I kept track of how the climb was going
Onto that place they call the summit.
In your realm there is no plummet
From the plane of higher powers.

I love your petals in the morning,
The color blossoms in the spring,
I love them when ice crystals are forming
And you can’t hear a single thing
Because the song birds took their southern trips.
The song I yearn for comes from your lips,
And the perfume is from your garden flowers.

They could never create a distraction,
My thoughts were always mine,
Whenever there was a need for action
I always relied on my own concept of time
Where the cycles follow a natural order.
On land exists no artificial border
That could ever keep us apart.

Let us prosper in the storm,
What do they know about misery?
Neither fences nor barbwire could ever adorn
The place branded for its liberty
That is ruled by the disloyal.
Our blood flows through the veins of this soil
And in it beats the rhythm of our heart.

The truth was never spoken,
The passage led into the pits,
The dragged out silence was never broken
Where the ruling party forbids
To shine the true light that you hold.
They come to ravage for the gold
And any other precious metals.

There’s nothing to do but to rise up,
To reclaim all of our natural resources,
Time to dethrone all the corrupt
With the union of our rebel forces
That comes together guided by the natural light—
Your colors must remain in sight,
And I’ll forever fight for your fragrant petals.

© Manuel Lozano

Up For Grabs

2010-07-08T21:13:00.001-06:00

Things are always up for grabs,
They come to take what is yours,
The twisted ones are keeping tabs,
The winds are blowing with full force.
Times change from day to day,
You can see it in the growing flower,
Its petals heading toward decay
Still perfume through the midnight hour.

There’s nothing that can hold us back,
The beacon shimmers in the north,
Even when nightmares attack
We are determined to go forth.
I will keep my head held up high
Even when it seems there’s nothing to do,
I will look up at the sapphire sky
And get lost in the vast so blue.

The sunshine here is always bright,
Threatened only by the leadership,
We find ourselves in a constant fight
Where madness seems to get a grip.
The wandering ones settle the score,
Their orders slaughter all innocence,
There is no way out through any door
When our children pay the full expense.

Somewhere in the great beyond
There are dreams that never expire,
The creature crawlers break the bond
With every new weapon they acquire.
The masses here hold the strength,
The muscle is in the people’s number,
The end is always at arm’s length
With lullabies for your eternal slumber.

Freedom’s thought became walled in,
Surrounded by the dug out trenches,
The robed ones lack the discipline
To preside behind the walnut benches.
The gavel drops inflicting pain,
The exiled one is liberty,
The barcodes here make up your name
As they strip you of your property.

My heart forever sings aloud,
Always yearning for the pleasant dream,
Despite the darkness of the forming cloud
I see the brightness of the golden beam.
The future is always yours and mine,
Not just for those with the farthest reach,
In here the lie will always define
The history that they tend to teach.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

As One

2010-06-28T01:03:00.000-06:00

If you were mine
The silvery stars would align,
And I would gladly surrender
All my thoughts and dreams,
And nothing would hinder
The moon’s dancing beams
While nightingales recite in rhyme
Beside cool calming streams—
If only you were mine.

If I were yours
I’d tap beauty’s natural source,
And I would invoke
The spirit of the river,
And nothing would cloak
The hymns it would deliver
With the soothing water’s force
Where no bare branches shiver—
If only I were yours.

If we were together
I’d caress you with a feather,
Nothing would impede
The suns golden rays,
And the night would recede
While the bursting light plays
In the temperate weather
Of life’s beautiful days—
If only we were together.

If we were as one
The war would be won,
And we would defend
The tears and the laughter,
And the road would extend
With so much to master
Through the break of dawn
Far past the morning after—
If only we were as one.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Our Song

2010-06-24T02:46:00.001-06:00

That tune remains a constant hymn,
I hear it when the trees grow bare,
When the cloud cover makes the sky grow dim
And I wake up again to the same nightmare.
It resonates through corridors
Where slabs of stone stand the test of time,
The humming gets here to endorse
Nature’s melody through rhythm and rhyme.

My love for this life does nothing but grow,
It never falls victim to decay,
I saw the moonbeams lose their tender glow,
But still the ensemble continues to play.
The stars themselves faded out
When the night was dragged over the edge,
But the trumpets blowing left no doubt
The sun and moon were both playing “fetch.”

Who knows what we were all chasing
That time the instant seemed like forever,
Perhaps the idea we were embracing
Would not come to define our great endeavor.
The moment just simply kept going,
It would not even stop to render any aid,
But even then the music kept flowing
At a time no one else would have played.

The crooners know it word for word,
They offer up the perfect rendition
With the bold plumage of every song bird
Dipped in the spectrum of rich musical tradition.
Everything else just went astray,
All other options were too harsh or too cruel,
The fibers of plastic were here to stay
Void of redemption and away from the jewel.

Lightning strikes this humble creation
To summon the troubadours way over yonder,
The Mariachis perform in celebration
Even through the rain and the thunder,
And the Matachines beat their hand made drums
As all balladeers show resistance,
The poets recite and the echo hums,
For the beautiful song proclaims our existence.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Roaming Free

2010-05-30T23:57:00.000-06:00

They say that it’s my destiny,
To just sit back and follow through,
The chosen ones don’t speak for me,
I was baptized in the morning dew,
Right beneath the sky so vast,
At a time that was standing still,
Now the leaders come as shadows cast,
Pushing it all down the hill.

I stood in silence at times of need,
The old ones were all there,
They knew I’d follow no one’s lead
When riding head long through the nightmare.
It spread its way through hidden paths,
And I had to make my contribution,
I write to fight for more than just laughs,
Aware I was born into an ongoing revolution.

The old coyote knows the way,
Through harsh terrain it moves along,
And I press on through shades of grey
With color bursting out in song.
My visions bask in moonlight beams,
With rising smoke and bundled sage,
With howl and chant my living dreams
Defy the traps of any cage.

The asphalt paves the crooked road
That suffocates the dirt beneath,
My thoughts receive the ancient code
That knows the soil yearns to breathe.
I’ve been pigmented by the earth, you see?
And blessed alongside my next of kin—
We roam the hoax of freedom and liberty,
Persecuted for our brown buffalo skin.

This is the place that knows me best,
We’re well acquainted since before the start,
The indigenous soil came to manifest
A handful of dirt into this singing heart.
Its song is free from the links of chain,
And barriers break before they can disintegrate,
Drums and rattles bring on the rain
As I set out to make my own fate.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Me-Xikano

2010-05-18T23:45:00.001-06:00

Another Broken Wing

2010-05-18T14:44:00.000-06:00

It is by heaven’s grace
That we are all here,
A golden dream to embrace
On a floating sphere.
There’s no time to think,
Time to be the broken link
On the eternal chain.
All out abuse,
There’s nothing to lose,
And everything to gain.

It is by heaven’s grace
That our hearts pound,
The world was flat out of place,
And now it is round.
Feel the breeze
Spreading death and disease
And an outbreak of smallpox.
Time to dry out the arroyo,
Ravage the soil
And say Plymouth rocks.

It is by heaven’s grace
That our lungs are expanding,
It was a victorious race
With the eagle landing.
There’s no more room,
The footsteps on the moon
Lead the onward path.
Through layers you’re hurled,
To trash another world
And unleash your wrath.

It is by heaven’s grace
That our eyes can see,
No room to measure each pace
Between you and me.
See the shadows crawl
Into memory hall
From the corners of daylight.
Can you visualize?
People categorize
And flourish in the night.

It is by heaven’s grace
That we all survive,
The downward spirals deface,
Everything takes a dive.
The angels are crying,
One by one they are dying
So you can win your death game.
Another broken wing,
And it’s a terrible thing
To do it all in God’s name.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

2010-05-09T11:44:00.000-06:00

Ritual Travels

2010-05-05T20:55:00.000-06:00

Out of the shadows there came one more monster,
There in the vapor they gathered to recline,
Quite aware that time was only an imposter
The three warrior shamans gathered to unwind.
It all made clear sense early in the morning,
That residual burning was set to create,
Deep in the depths where the smoke cloud is forming
Is the place where the three herb's men congregate.

It all came to be with the moonlight beaming,
That garden of foliage was about waste deep,
Right at that moment when the world was dreaming
We live out those dreams without having to sleep.
The spirit was chasing that sense of wonder,
And we wandered the realm of higher contemplation,
The shadows around all got pulled under
Just as the haze fine-tuned our concentration.

The outside world kept its pace quite erratic,
But there in the vortex time would be missing,
Reaching the sky became something automatic
Just as the ancestors all come out reminiscing.
The stars are brilliant in their natural splendor,
With all those before us we became well acquainted,
There were so many wild thoughts we had to surrender
To that canvas of dialogue that needed to be painted.

The journey would take us into the wilderness,
Into the heart of that moment that forever keeps going,
The ceremonial flame was never cursed motionless,
For the tip of the torchlight forever kept glowing.
Darkness only made the beacon shine brighter,
Those field cultivators reaped with precision,
The flint stone was shaped to provide the igniter
As the herb's men united to share in the vision.

Once more for all those who fell in battle,
We sound off the drums through the darkest hour,
Hear the rhythm of that diamondback rattle
As the serpent of visions displays its full power.
We present our offerings and get the smoke rising,
And all of this living goes down in one breath,
The rest dwell in their slumber without ever realizing
Through our ritual travels we shall never know death.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

INSIST AND RESIST

2010-05-04T00:38:00.000-06:00

The old tradition knows the way,
its rebellious nature
will not lay down in the dust.
Se sacude las plumas
y levanta la cara
mientras estira sus alas
para volar.

Se rinde sólo al sueño
que comete el delito
of maintaining its pulse,
el de aquella infancia
en que toda inocencia
just refuses to tremble
before the ongoing nightmare.

This modern rendition
es la misma tormenta
Que estremecio la tierra
Hace más de quinientos-
mechanized and updated.
Sus espinas de acero
culpables de tanto llanto.

I stand beside my carnalas.
I stand beside my carnales.
Beside all those soaring eagles
que son perseguid@s,
told it’s their own fault
for being born in the shackles
of their beautiful brown skin.

Celebramos en canto.
Our song beats its drums
and shakes its serpentine rattles.
Insiste y resiste,
Y así aprendimos a sobrevivir.
Vamos y venimos,
El cielo y la tierra
nos lo ha permitido.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Untitled

2010-04-19T15:04:00.001-06:00

In silence I will think only of you,
Of that old way you were smiling,
Of the clear sky so vast and blue
When the stars were accustomed to aligning.

Now ponder one day when you’re all alone,
The past has prepared you for now,
You’ve cleared the dirt of every stone
Before your horses dragged the plow.

The ancient bells keep clanging,
Next year when the flowers sprout
You’ll taste the sour grapes a-hanging
And know what I’m talking about.

Remember the burning of the fire,
The high rise and the open landscapes,
Remember the high pitch of the choir
When our shadows went climbing up the drapes.

It’s all written on the paper,
That scroll of record keeping,
The midnight faded with the vapor
When the rest of the world was sleeping.

Now follow through on your endeavor,
There are many armies to combat,
Just remember not to sever
That link that put you where you’re at.

I’m off to turn the soil,
In new born rays it’s time to sow,
Vowing to remain forever loyal
To those who prepared me for where I go.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

We Belong Together - Ritchie Valens (original demo tape)

2010-04-03T03:13:00.001-06:00

Untitled

2010-03-15T21:06:00.000-06:00

(R.I.P)

The angels came with broken wings,
I lost the echo of the hymn,
There is no new light that morning brings,
The tree line broke at every limb.
My sense of peace took its final breath,
That final sigh went out the door,
I came to life to meet with death-
A foot soldier in someone else’s war.

The marching band came to a halt,
There is no way to get the music going,
The stillness of night was not at fault
When those sacred waters stopped flowing.
It always came as no surprise,
The things that others have in store,
I stand where nothing will suffice,
A foot soldier in someone else’s war.

Remember all the wounded ones,
In silence I offer up a prayer,
Darkness dims the beam that stuns,
It all builds up a dusty layer.
The candles lost their tender glow,
And that was when the skyline tore,
I always saw in those I came to know
A foot soldier in someone else’s war.

Tomorrow is just a thought away,
It lingers somewhere out of reach,
The likeness faded in the lumps of clay,
The grains of sand had nothing to teach.
I used to stop and reminisce,
But somehow I seldom do it anymore,
I was born in a place just like this,
A foot soldier in someone else’s war.

Goodbye my love, they got you too,
I always thought we had a chance,
I always felt there was more to do,
But saw no one taking up a stance.
There is no room left in here to roam,
And no one left to rise and soar,
You came to make yourself at home
A foot soldier in someone else’s war.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

In Thought

2010-03-13T02:50:00.001-07:00

“Remember me,” she said,
“The thought is inside your head,
I tried manipulation,
But the vision, now it’s dead,
I wanted gold in celebration,
Instead you gave it lead.”

“It had to be,” I said to her,
“Let it all become a blur,
Some things were born to stay behind,
And the ending came fast for sure,
For the stars were not aligned,
And the mortal wound had but one cure.”

“The thought is dead!” aloud she cried,
“The falling leaves have testified,
The trees bared no sweet fruit,
The barren branches have been denied,
No great debater could ever dispute
The fact we saw the stars collide.”

“It wasn’t that,” I insisted,
“It was so fast we might have missed it,
The wick never catching the spark,
Or perhaps we never risked it,
You could say it was too dark
When we knew the light existed.”

“That’s it!” she began to scream.
“Calm down!” I had to intervene,
“The end of time is always at hand!”
She said, “That’s what I mean!
We piled on those grains of sand,
And never thought of what we’ve seen.”

“All things must pass,” I explained,
“You saw the tracks last time it rained,
And I did stop to think about it,
Too much was lost for what was gained,
And the trail was rerouted
With too deep a wound to have sustained.”

“It must go on!” she exhaled,
Holding her breath had always failed,
“No one could say this is the end!”
Even she knew it all derailed.
Gasping for air, my dear sweet friend
Could not imagine what it all entailed.

“This is how the battle’s fought,”
I added, “whether we like it or not,
It all unravels as you go along,
The binding forces can untie a knot,
And though the song bird changes song,
Through melody we exist in thought.”

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Untitled

2010-03-11T00:19:00.001-07:00

MEXICO

2010-03-05T00:14:00.000-07:00

Solo tus jardines me traen placer,
Pero lo que ahora nos une, no me deja ver.
Es el muro que no tiene otra cosa que hacer
Nomas que traer apuro y tortura,
Nos separa y niega tanta ternura.

Un dia la frontera se cruzo sin preguntar.
En la bandera se escucho un aguila llorar,
Y el sol protestaba mientras la gente empasaba a gritar
Comunicando su voz sobre la injusticia,
Pues el muro prohibia cualquier acaricia.

Y eso no fue todo lo que perdi aquel dia,
Solo el barro y el lodo saben lo tanto que sufria.
Me alejaron de ella mientras ella dormia,
Y bajo cada estrella colgaron un gran letrero
Que decia que harian un muro de acero.

Pues como quisiera tenerte en mis manos,
Y decir con un puño de tierra que no somos extraños,
Sino mucho mas que compadres, y mas que hermanos,
Tu eres mi madre, y yo tu hijo querido,
Aunque estoy en tierra lejana soy de tu nido.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Jaguar At Heart

2010-02-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

You know me quite well,
I’m a jaguar at heart,
Destined to rebel
Right from the start.
Who ever said
The wild were dead?
I put out my art
Through the sounds in my head.

The echo is loud,
With a thunderous roar,
We pierce the cloud
Through the hole on the floor.
In twisted nightmares
We found the spiral stairs
That would let us soar
Out where nothing compares.

The vision is yours,
And bright if you want,
The night sky is the source
Of the diamonds we flaunt.
The black velvet adorns
As the music now warns
That the wolf on the hunt
Gets pierced by the thorns.

We are souls in transit,
Hitching a ride with the thumb,
You can either dance it,
Or aim your stinger and hum.
Either way, it’s flowing,
And never easy going,
So beat your hand painted drum
With the wild wind now blowing.

Change is adrift,
Lost in the sea,
Like a sparrow so swift
That can never be free.
Well manipulated,
Even fabricated,
A consumer on a spree
With liberty devastated.

Oh heart of mine,
Without hesitation commits,
To the rhythm and rhyme
Of the pieces and bits.
You know us quite well,
It was always easy to foretell
How this group of misfits
Was destined to rebel.

© Manuel Lozano 2010

Updrafts...from Seeds Of Rebellion

2010-02-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

I got caught in the updrafts
And the wind took me abroad,
In the alleyways of arts and crafts
The fertile soil entered my blood
And flowed through my veins
Making my skin the color of the earth,
I entered with no dragging chains
At the moment of my birth.

The textile patterns tell the tale
Of stars that shine and winds that blow,
The chosen colors will prevail
Where stars fade and artificial lights glow.
It all came down to living
In a way that keeps you in a constant fight,
I saw the colors of the intricate weaving
Bright and bold in the depths of night.

Nothing ever got in the way,
Not artificial borders or lines,
Night came in the light of day
With dignity dying on the vines,
But there was always something to be done,
And there was time to do even more,
I was prepared to have every battle won
And ready for victory in war.

The voyage is taken to proceed,
Some things can never be torn apart,
The spirit of my people planted the seed
That tells me to only follow my heart.
Sometimes it’s best to travel alone,
But loneliness makes the temperature drop,
I always journeyed alongside my own
When striving to reach for the top.

Still the wind continues to blow,
And I follow no flight path through open skies,
When I thought of the things I needed to know
I looked at my reflection in the elder’s eyes.
I came up through ages of spiritual power,
Through corridors at temples of keen observation,
The secrets of beauty are in every flower,
And the power of change is in every generation.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Mystical Swan

2010-01-19T21:59:00.001-07:00

I invoke the nightingales for you,
The harpists in the morning dew,
And all those golden beams through shades of blue.
The serenade begins at the break of dawn,
The lyricists gather as you spread your wings,
I come to see the majesty of the swan
Who touches the sky through smoky rings
And offers me those dreams to dream.
The high choir in the grassland sings
In the realm of incantations so sweet and serene.

Out in the wilderness nature is pure,
It is there that I am seeking the cure,
Away from the asphalt to where the senses endure.
The vision was from the greater beyond,
The pace in the perception of time slowly decreased,
And the pulse in the phrasing was quick to respond.
I never forget that promise from the east-
That torchlight arising after stormy weather,
The fragrance of blossoms was slowly released
As those rays beamed across to caress each feather.

I always believe in the heartbeat of song,
That immortal breath that could never go wrong,
The instant the soul sings softly along.
It is much more than just speculation,
The symphony performs under newborn skies,
Each note pays tribute to nature’s creation
As the water’s reflection looks into your eyes
And sees that wild spirit that forever flies free.
In the perfumed waters of paradise
Echoes the harmony that rings throughout eternity.

I call upon all those that croon,
The ones seeking to witness each silky plume,
And all those that carry some sort of tune.
I exhale the rhythm into the verse
And include the hymn of a natural cascade,
In the light there is no need to rehearse
As the cool breeze blows and the music is played
Just as the sun rises and darkness is gone.
The mercenaries of melody all come serenade
The magical beauty of the mystical swan.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

GUERRILLA

2009-12-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

We responded like warriors. Our senses had been overloaded. I knew the arteries of our tempers had exploded. The enemy wore an iron head dress, and the wise man had been quoted when he explained our non success. There was no way we could beat it, but no reason to not fight it. Though we saw ourselves defeated, we sought out the dark night to ignite it.

The nights were cool and calm in the so called “candy lanes,” when reality slipped through our sweaty palm and wrapped us in these heavy chains. We struggle through the avenues. We will not fall without a brawl, so the battle continues to entice us all. We carry only our intentions, and that’s to slaughter the enemy, who with his death machine inventions etched some bloody pictures in our memory.

The hunt began at sunset. There was no way to forget the foe had the insights of a silhouette. The moon began to crawl across the sky. I knew it would be soon, we had to try and slash the faces of the monsters we’ve already met. The torches had been lit with the flames of righteousness. We set out to forbid the creature from shredding us apart with its dark caress.

We saw it anchored to the rocks. It’s sculptures that connected to every box tried to touch the circling vultures higher up above. To damage it was not enough, something much more tragic had to occur. The mind began to plot and stir and conjured up a storm. The plan was to aim the pounding at the wires that helped it keep its form, to tear it down from all its glory with the tools found in its territory.

With a pounding came the boulders. Like foot soldiers we tore through its support. In a single breath we were to inflict death, and death would play the escort. The wind was howling vicious. We hoped the wise man was only being superstitious when he prophesized our fall. He said we would all answer to the final call. We were caught in a dilemma. The wind also began to pound, and down came the TV antenna upon us all.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Ode To Adelita

2009-12-03T04:33:00.000-07:00

THE SKY

2009-11-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

Tu Propia Cancion

2009-11-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

Fue suavecito como el viento,
Y todo lo demas lentamente desaparecia,
El tiempo camino a paso misterioso y lento
En las horas obscuras de ese dia.
Pero a mi nada de eso me amenasaba,
Tu luz me inspiraba,
Y solo me imaginaba la fragancia en tu cuello.
La fuerza de tu mirada me aluzaba
Mientras el aire libre y suavecito acariciaba
Los colores del arco iris en tu cabello.

Ahora te veo entre las flores,
En jardines vestidos para la gran ocasion,
Mientras los pajarillos se pintan de mil colores
Y unen su voz con gran emocion.
El poeta mystico alegremente se expresa,
Y estas palabras salen de la naturaleza-
Brotan y crecen y no se marchitan.
El murmuro suavemente confieza
Que no hay mejor obra de arte que la belleza
Que encapsula tu mirada mientras los cosmos recitan.

La primavera llego con su dulce sinfonia,
Y su musica linda nacio de tu mirada,
El farol de su luz brilla en harmonia
Con el mysterio iluminante da la luna acurrucada.
A tu perfume me lo a traido la briza,
Y ahora escribo al compaz de tu risa
Mientras la magia de la vida sigue sin interrupcion.
Los musicos tocan sus intrumentos sin prisa,
Y las cuerdas suspiran y el saxofón improvisa
Para venir a entregarte tu propia cancion.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

DEBUT

2009-11-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Life came and it went,
It was time well spent,
You spread your wings
To slow down you descend,
But every bird that sings
Must one day meet the end.

Everybody showed up to pay tribute,
Unlike they did at your debut,
You used to sing a song
To settle a dispute,
But when death came along,
You suddenly went mute.

Now they bury you a fallen bird
Where you were once made out of dirt,
You leave behind your stage
In the world we must all desert,
It was time your spirit left its cage,
And sing where only angels are heard.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Seeds Of Rebellion

2009-11-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Tour...from Rhythm Of The Heart

2009-10-12T08:27:00.000-06:00

Take me to the unveiling
Of the secrets of the heart,
Take me to the avenue
Where we cannot be apart,
Point out every constellation
As we stand in freedom’s shores-
Take me on those wings of yours.

Be the queen of magic,
Look me in the eyes,
Be the one you say you are
And not someone in disguise,
Show me the realms of mystery
That only love explores-
Take me on those wings of yours.

Defend me from the creatures
Who are on the constant prowl,
Give me shelter in your arms
From the winds that howl,
Take me from this nonsense
To where no fury roars-
Take me on those wings of yours.

Everywhere I turn my head
There are barriers to break,
Every piece of gold I find
Turns out to be fake,
Give me smiles both pure and true
From a beautiful source-
Take me on those wings of yours.

Time splinters in such a way
That the thorns pierce my skin,
Remove the pieces from my flesh,
Tell me we will win,
Tell me things won't break down
As we witness time taking its course-
Take me on those wings of yours.

I’ve crawled through the wasteland
And climbed the highest hill,
I’ve cultivated wild roses,
And slid through the blood spill,
I need a true companion,
A love that will only reinforce-
Take me on those wings of yours.

Give me all those things
That exist within your mind,
Take me from the darkness
To where the heavenly stars are aligned,
Take me from the midnight hours
Through the brilliance of your doors-
Take me on those wings of yours.

© Manuel Lozano 2007

INDIGENOUS BEAUTY, oil pastel ~ el Meny

2009-10-11T18:33:00.001-06:00

RHYTHM OF THE HEART

2009-10-11T18:01:00.000-06:00

fourth book ready next week (SEEDS OF REBELLION)

NASA DETONATING BOMB ON MOON

2009-10-07T10:56:00.001-06:00

Associate In Question- To my fellow companions...from Seeds of Rebellion

2009-09-28T23:27:00.000-06:00

Nothing ever comes out for the best,
Things seem to take a detour,
You trample along with no time to invest
In the adventurous quest of an entrepreneur,
And its business as usual,
Where what comes daily is crucial,
And the risks you take make it all worth it.

Everybody thinks in dollar amounts,
Only that can cover the total expense,
Caught in a footrace where each second counts,
And everyone puts in their two cents.
Deep in the dirt is where it’s all hidden,
Somewhere where daylight has been forbidden,
And fortune seekers hope to unearth it.

My love for it all got lost in the new marketplace,
Right where the heart was offered for sale,
The price tag was advertised in so many ways
That bargain hunters carved out a trail.
One after another they took a stroll,
And the big corporation soon took control
That the only competition goes by the same motto.

It all resembles one big equation
Where the value of things equals more riches,
The poverty stricken get no explanation
Of why every deep wound goes on without stitches,
Instead they receive news that there’s more to come,
And all those savings add up to no sum
Where you celebrate what you gain with a bottle.

The drunk and disorderly give out the orders,
And everything is a steal from one isle to the next,
The workers grow old for rolls of quarters
Converted to plastic handed out as paychecks.
It’s back breaking labor where injury must be avoided,
And you’re called an associate while being exploited,
As you must handle that medical bill on your own.

My fellow companions put in too much work,
That amount equal to walking on water,
Called business partners where shadows lurk
As the mom and pop shops fall in the public slaughter.
It all got initiated with good intention,
But it grew into this supermarket invention
Where we come to work our fingers to the bone.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Old Revolt...from Seeds of Rebellion

2009-09-26T08:41:00.001-06:00

The ancient past unhinged its jaws,
And that old rebellion is the key,
Always up to disobey those laws,
The ones man wrote to project liberty.
Time is fast and it ticks away,
And I cannot do all things at once,
Moments die fast and are forced to obey,
So I stretch out those single runs.

It all came down from the unexplored,
The answers lie in the mysterious,
At a moment that’s gone overboard
And those pulsing flashes act delirious.
So I ride that wave of mass hysteria,
And embrace the thought that nothing’s new,
Lunacy spread throughout the area
And left everyone without a clue.

The wounded and weary roam the streets,
They bleed on through without sighing,
They form a line where no one meets,
Out where it all succeeds at never trying.
I walk barefoot on sacred soil,
My spirit embracing the early uprising,
Even those diamonds fade from each coil,
And anything can fall to whatever’s enticing.

I sought out the stars once or twice,
And everything just got lost in the blur,
The pearls fell into the hands of the unwise
Deep in the depths where nightmares occur.
Velvet was draped with pierced pinholes,
And no one connected that silvery gleam,
I always got lost on my midnight strolls,
And still to this day I fade into that dream.

The passing of time outwits the lightning,
For even its rumble is late to arrive,
This flash in existence was captured a-shining
In the writing that keeps that drumming alive.
It’s all doomed to get pulled under,
But some things linger just a little longer,
Each time the echo of that distant thunder
Bursts through these lines louder and stronger.

That old revolt taught me disobedience,
It elongates each instant born to sever,
It appears to draw out those strange ingredients
Destined not to see the light of forever.
Meantime I can’t do what anyone else tells me,
Not with everything done leading toward much more,
Those rebellious ones were holding the key
As they rose up united to kick in the door.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Conquistadores...from Seeds of Rebellion

2009-09-24T00:13:00.000-06:00

Grita desde lo alto muy fuerte,
El viento entrega el mensage,
La vida enpieza con la muerte
Y florese en otro paisage,
Pero mientras el tambor se escucha,
Y hay que hacer lucha
Por todos aquellos que llegaran despues.
Su camino no a sido decidido,
Pero aquellas cemillas que ya an florecido
Dirigen con los pies.

La noche larga avanza,
Las estrellas iluminan la escena,
En tiempos de revolucion no se descansa
Al pelear por tierra nombrada ajena.
Tus antepasados son los mios,
El agua corre por los rios,
Y la sangre por las venas.
El enemigo ofrece su amistad,
Pero no existe la libertad
En el lugar de las cadenas.

Ya no sera igual,
Las cosas tendran que cambiar,
Aunque el silencio es halgo normal
Los pajarillos insisten en cantar-
Y su voz es la nuestra.
La vida nos quita lo que nos presta,
Pero en procesos naturales.
Si solo los conocieras-
Los enemigos dibujan fronteras
Y otras lineas artificiales.

No hay avanze sin movimiento,
Y el movimiento sigue hacia adelante,
Sube la sierra y dilo al viento
Para pelear por un ahora brillante.
El tiempo es constante,
Y el silencio explota en este instante
Por aquellos que todavia van por llegar.
Por nosotros brillan aquellos luceros,
Y tu y yo somos aquellos guerreros
Que conquistan pesadillas al navegar.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Alma Rebelde...from Seeds of Rebellion

2009-09-10T18:32:00.000-06:00

Mi cielo se mira en el espejo del rio,
El sol llega y corona al amanecer,
Los pajarillos cantan con tanta alegria
Mientras los campos comienzan a florecer.
Mi alma rebelde para y suspira,
Las lineas fueron marcadas en ese papel,
Pues ese paisage tan lindo que mira
Ya nunca jamas podra ser de el.

Hay arbol torcido sin alguna esparanza,
Mi raiz necesita beber de esa agua,
Pero entre tanta barrera no se alcanza
El fondo del pozo de la epoca antigua.
Mi cielo se nubla al recordar el pasado,
La luz no ilumina ninguna pared,
Aqui me encuentro desconocido y cansado
Sin alguna manera de curar esta sed.

Hay alma rebelde que bien me conoces,
Sabes naci para hacer lo que tengo que hacer,
Aquellas tormentas en aquellas voces
Dividen la tierra por puro placer.
La vida camina al son del latido,
Y este guerrero al tambor de batalla,
Los cercos cicatrizan lo que han herido
Alli donde la sombra cuelga su medalla.

Hay sangre mia que resistes con calma,
No hay cosa mejor que saber quien naciste,
La historia esta escrita en la palma,
Y el puño de tierra sabra lo que combatiste.
Por hoy me ocupo en sonar las alarmas,
El rio no canta sin el movimiento,
Con estas palabras me levanto en armas,
Pues cruzan fronteras en las alas del viento.

Hay corazon mio que tanto te duele,
Si supieras lo tanto que hay que decir,
Mi voz y mi mente dicen que te consuele,
Pero algunas cosas no son facil de traducir.
Tu sientes aquello que quema por dentro,
Y no puedo seguir con los brazos cruzados,
Aquel guerrillero se encuentra en el centro
De aquellas tormentas que an creado dos lados.

Mi cielo se mira en el espejo del rio,
El sol llega y corona al amanecer,
El pueblo aquel se encuentra dividido
En tierra indigena donde vine a nacer.
Mi alma rebelde se encuentra dispuesto,
No hay consecuencia que me mantenga callado,
Al rio yo vengo a reclamar lo nuestro,
Pero veo que nadie se encuentra a mi lado.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Embalm

2009-08-30T07:58:00.000-06:00

Behold, the flood that drowns all your senses,
The wind tearing away at your skin,
The pinpoint precision of the consequences
Attacks at the weakness held deep within.
Ripping through the force field pretensions,
There’s no shelter from war path inventions.

All your nightmares experienced at dusk,
The nocturnal entities spiraling through your gut,
The poacher of nice dreams chips away at your tusk
While the nomads of midnight set fire to your hut.
You hunt and you gather for what the other has got,
Only to end up with a vacant lot.

The contagious persona to your handkerchief clings,
Awaiting to torment the qualities of virtue,
The animals of constriction are pulling the strings
Beyond the dark hours and bell tolls of curfew.
Watch the inappropriate belt out with scorn,
The shape shifter blending in by changing its form.

No brightness to witness when the light’s so evasive,
Or is it just that the shutters have been shut,
Maybe it’s just that the voice is so persuasive
That we fail to notice the depth of the cut.
Or maybe it is that we enjoy such a slaughter
That to prevent any witness we shut every shutter.

All electrical impulse programmed to advance,
No possibility to compute the scale of destruction,
The penalty leaving the stars with no chance,
Except if their one wish is to malfunction.
Yonder where the salts of the earth embalm
They offer you the chance to set off the bomb.

© Manuel Lozano 2oo7

el meny problems

2009-08-22T09:24:00.000-06:00

"THIS IS WHO I AM, NOT WHAT I'VE BECOME" M.L.

Gabriel y su tio en su 2nd birthday

2009-08-16T09:37:00.000-06:00

Early One Morning

2009-08-12T17:07:00.000-06:00

Early one morning I woke up thinking
I couldn’t have gotten lost in the commotion,
The light was bright and forever unblinking
As I followed on down the ocean.
There was serenity, and a fragrance in the air,
The echoes of eternity told me you were there.

I remember looking down when I came on shore
Where hammocks rocked swiftly in the breeze,
I had a treasure map leading to your door,
And another leading to the hidden keys.
Of following a trail, you must understand,
I wouldn’t fail those footprints washed from the sand.

The sun was beating down both bright and hot,
I could have chosen somewhere else instead,
But you know I never gave it a thought
Because I could see you so clearly in my head.
The rocks where seagulls perch tried getting in my way,
But I didn’t have to search, only had to follow your ray.

I came into the realm of undecipherable faces
Where the light dims and shadows multiply,
I heard a sound after taking ten paces,
But I arrived at birth only to defy.
My concentration was such, that reflex took the reins,
For your silky touch I brought down the heavy rains.

From afar a gentle voice came calling out,
From exactly where I can’t say for sure,
“If in your heart there exists no kind of doubt,
Then I will lead you straight to her.”
Such sweet voice, with so much promise and peace,
I knew I had no other choice but to go find the keys.

Beyond the hidden passages of mystery I went,
Toward that place where the songbirds are heard,
The voice saying, ”As long as the story is never bent,
You will always be a man of your word.”
And there I found the keys, as the rugged terrain grew smooth,
The whirlwinds won‘t cease unless you only speak the truth.

With eyes wide open I traveled on down
Into the depths of the great unknown,
I could not come up with the name of the town,
But it was the land where sunflowers have always grown.
The scent of your perfume was pulling at my senses,
It was safe to assume my travels had no bad consequences.

Every move I made you were always in my mind,
I know nothing could’ve kept me from going,
Not the strangers I met down the line,
Or any false promise any shortcut was showing.
The trail I had chosen was the one barely being born,
Time seemed frozen, taking some sort of lingering form.

I must admit I was never in a rush,
The great reward was to be in your arms,
It was a kind of hope nothing could ever crush,
Or interrupt with any false alarms.
I could feel it already, your breath against my skin,
My pace was swift and steady, and I had the discipline.

There I was on streets of cobble stone
With a view right out of some ancient paradise,
Of all the stars the heavens will ever own
None will ever emulate the brightness in your eyes.
Nothing could hold me back, every urge saying to press on,
My sky would never again grow black for I felt your shining sun.

And there I saw a golden beam expelled
Radiating through the window pane of your hand carved door,
The door was marked on the map I held,
And there was a welcome mat on the floor.
I called out your name, never before feeling quite like this,
Hoping you felt the same, you opened up greeting me with a kiss.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

I Want You

2009-08-01T22:44:00.001-06:00

Fantasy World

2009-07-30T21:15:00.000-06:00

It’s all made up of fantasy,
The kind that will put you to sleep,
The light between us has faded so fast
That I no longer have secrets to keep.
Everything here has a touch of make-believe—
The story’s a tale of heroes who fail
In the things only they can achieve.

Everything is haunted,
Bottomless pits never show what they hold,
The arc is light bending
And no one will give you your gold.
Villains act out your dark dreams—
The old albatross asks you hold the applause
Until you’re in the blood-filled streams.

The night is elongated,
The sky line shows no remorse,
The fire that engulfs the horizon
Awaits your blessing to plot out its course.
The locals will show you the way—
Deep in trance you’ll get the chance
To destroy your figures of clay.

The moon has been held captive,
There’s bad intention in the contraption,
The words are fired with ravaging fury
Every time the leader speaks with action.
The tent is held down by each spike—
The circus performs through thunderstorms
To attract the lightning strike.

No need to watch your back,
The knives are made of plastic,
No one has come to draw conclusions
In the land of the fantastic.
In this life you’ll never be alone—
In the laboratory they tell the story
Of how you’ll meet your clone.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

In My Lonely Nights...from Rhythm of the Heart

2009-07-29T12:52:00.000-06:00

Words fill the paper
With secrets of the soul,
While the mind creates
And the senses patrol,
And I only see you
While the poet recites,
Every phrase speaks of you
In my lonely nights.

I gaze at the stars
And see their merry glow,
And the vision arises
Of angels going to and fro,
The thought takes me along,
Beyond unreachable heights,
And I miss you so much
In my lonely nights.

I feel the shiver,
The emptiness of being apart,
And I miss the beat
Of your rhythm in my heart,
It is a fire
Only your touch ignites,
I yearn for it madly
In my lonely nights.

You take me on journeys
To places I never knew before,
I hold on tight to your wings
As we begin to soar,
I experience the unknown
On our midnight flights,
And I need your feather’s caress
In my lonely nights.

I look forward to dreaming,
For you’re there all the time,
You come out wrapped in velvet
From the ivory halls of my mind,
You whisper softly
That I turn off the lights,
And I know dreams can come true
In my lonely nights.

© Manuel Lozano 2007

Para Ella

2009-07-29T00:51:00.000-06:00

Navegando me encuentro,
Atraido por el centro
De tu fuente de maravillas.
Mujer de piel morena
Por ti la noche estrena
Sus estrellas recien nacidas.

Algunas cosas son eternas
Como la luz de tus linternas
Que el tiempo nunca desbarata.
La pesadilla no es vida,
La luna fue encendida
Para llevarte serenata.

La seda es suavecita,
Pero mi cuerpo necesita
Lo que solo tu posesas.
Los gorriones se an unido
Con los pajarillos en su nido
Para cantar mientras te expresas.

Sonrie para que te vean,
Te admiran los que te desean,
Los demas te tienen selos.
Tu perfume es contagioso,
No hay nada mas sabroso
Que el dulce de tus caramelos.

En silencio e pensado,
Entre flores te e soñado
Mientras te bañabas en los rios.
Vuelo en alto tus banderas,
Me hipnotisan tus caderas,
Quisiera que tus labios fueran mios.

Brindo por el camino,
Por aquellos momentos del destino
Que crecen flores en el desierto.
A la gloria me as llevado,
El dolor es cosa del pasado
Y el corazon murmura al viento.

© Manuel Lozano 2008

The Heist - Copilli Queztalli and everything else…

2009-07-28T14:03:00.000-06:00

Return the treasures that you stole,
The ancient artifacts,
With the sky under your control
The dark overcast covers your tracks.
You’re intentions are malign,
You gave birth to the nightmare
In the place that has always been mine,
And I’m not going anywhere.

There is so much to hold,
In here the shadows do their part,
In your quest for caches of gold
You come to find you have no heart.
The story has been told before,
You are the new sheriff in town,
You prepare your blankets for war
In an attempt to keep the native down.

Retrace the ancient worn down path,
Take the road that leads away,
The flesh feels the wrath
While the senses are being led astray.
History is being written,
The tale has many twists and turns,
In the bonfires of the forbidden
The essence of innocence burns.

I stand on location,
Where I have been expected,
My obsidian blades of confrontation
Have been well documented.
It is flowing through the veins,
My movements are archival,
My roots soak up the heavy rains
To nourish my survival.

I come to take our treasures,
Hand made throughout the ages,
I come to take drastic measures
And leave my prints throughout the pages.
Time to collect what is ours,
The plan is well devised,
In the traffic of the mid-day hours
We will execute the heist.

© Manuel Lozano 2009

Licor...from Where the Creatures Roam

2009-07-28T13:56:00.001-06:00

Cierra la boca
Y habre los ojos,
Nos pintan en siesta,
Una banda de flojos
Con una botella vacia
De licor reposado-
El que se opone al avance
Que quede conquistado.

Siempre adelante
Y sin antifaz,
Con espiritu guerrillero
En busca de la paz,
Que cante el gallo,
Y suene el tiro de escopeta-
Que no exsistan los lazos,
Menos la marioneta.

Oponte al desfile
Que marcha sin causa,
Como ola de furia
Avanza sin pausa,
Marca tu huella
En los granos de arena-
Tiempo de librarte
De cualquier cadena.

Los sueños sin pulso
Simplemente no exsisten,
Salen los monstruos
Cuando las sombras se visten
Con trage y corvata
Para inyectar su ignorancia-
Hay que eliminarlos,
Que envenenan la infancia.

Siente tu patria
Que brota y florece,
Siente la sangre antigua
Que te fortalece,
Eres quien eres
Por hobra de Dios,
En este mundo de falsedad
Que se escuche tu voz.

© Manuel Lozano 2006

2009-07-28T01:47:00.000-06:00

Back cover of my third book, RHYTHM OF THE HEART

Alma Rebelde...from Seeds of Rebellion

2009-07-28T00:38:00.000-06:00

Disjointed...from Rhythm of the Heart

2009-07-28T00:23:00.000-06:00

Ah, this high-rise
Makes me think of your eyes
Where the cool breeze is blowing.
Though the memory is persistent,
It’s fading slowly, non-resistant,
But the colors will always be showing
The outlines of your silhouette.

I go through it all
Always climbing over some elevating wall,
And going everywhere uninvited.
I just show up unexpected,
The method calibrated and perfected
When the night sky is ignited
On the outer rim of your corset.

From the platform I’ve disjointed
All the rails they have appointed
And laid down tracks all my own.
Passing trough those days of old,
It brings to mind the radiant gold
That somehow gets a somber tone
As the landscapes slowly melt.

Many things fade with each ember,
There’s only so much one can remember,
And the fire consumes what it wants.
Yet, from up here above the skyline
Your image is etched onto my mind
And the memory shows quick response
To the lacing of your garter belt.

I always travel without mapping,
Never stopping, always tapping
That ancient place of smoky haze.
You’re coming through with Saturn rings
Hooped on your hips and angel wings
That bring back those golden rays
That were saturated with your essence.

This trip is always forward progress,
The series of images make me express
How I wish you were here with me.
I climb as the sun is setting,
Heading higher and never forgetting
That the only thing that sets me free
Is to feel your presence.

© Manuel Lozano 2007

Ode to Adelita

2009-07-27T23:35:00.000-06:00

I see you standing there,
With your braids down past your shoulder,
Combative in the strange nightmare,
Holding the stance of some brave soldier.
Never knew the concept of unbreakable laws,
Your rebellious nature was your cause,
And that is just how our eyes first met.
Through the dust I saw a silhouette,
It’s curvature seemed quite explicit,
And if there’s one thing I won’t regret,
It’s facing a hail of bullets not to miss it.
`
The smoke cleared just a bit,
I was looking from underneath my sombrero,
That dangerous form perfectly fit
The wild dreamscapes of any pistolero.
The horizon curved at your hip,
I charged the bulls without a whip,
And every horn just went by grazing.
Through hell fire I went racing,
Then reached a lone standing adobe wall,
The gunslinger was forever bracing
To that fate that will entice us all.
`
My spirit revels in the whirlwind,
And the whirlwind picks up dust,
By far the best place I’ve ever been,
But never one that you can trust.
The dry clay flew in bits and chunks,
Streets were filled with monks and drunks,
And they fire well I must add.
This was the best nightmare I ever had,
For it involved some dangerous curves,
That soldadera was bold and bad,
Gun powder never really rattled her nerves.
`
The streets are dirt and loose gravel,
The village is deep in the desert’s heart,
I saw all sense of peace suddenly unravel
When they ripped the sacred land apart.
The peasants crossed their bandoleers,
The sky shed its many tears,
And we united against the corporation.
We defend the soul from the creature’s invasion,
And this is where I picked it up,
Adelita will never lose her concentration,
And she’s aiming at those who are corrupt.
`
That adobe wall is still growing smaller,
Our rifles blast through the arena,
The peso drowned along with the mighty dollar
In what is now the ruins of the cantina.
Reflex grows so quick to hustle,
She is fast at flexing that muscle,
And it triggers more uprising.
Her brown eyes are also quite enticing,
And that pin-point precision only allows you to hear it,
Adelita knows that nothing can be surprising
As we share in that revolutionary spirit.

© Manuel Lozano 2009