Welcome to Mendes Biondo!

Painting by Vincent Van Gogh is in the Kroller-Muller Museum

This morning I have the honor to present some poems by Mendes Biondo, a fellow contributor to Resurrection of a Sunflower.  Mendes, by the way, is also the editor of Ramingo!. 

The wheat came in sunny days

An old sunburned man

with wrinkled hands

throws seeds on ground

his smile like a sickle

awaiting for the harvest

in the sunny days

it will come the storm

said his children

let it come

said him to them

it will come the winter

and crows will eat seeds

said his children

let them come

said him sowing

and he continued

year after year

sowing and reaping

the fruit of the wheat

and every year storms

and winter and crows

came with the cry of children

but the mill has not stopped

his slow slow work

and the wheat came

every year

in the sunny days

This painting, too, is by Van Gogh.

Willie Mcbride's Last Bravado

last night I stole

twenty red poppies

as a morning gift for you

the roses

you know

            they cost so much

and the tulips

            they are out of my possibilities

but that big field outside and far

it's full of red poppies in may

so I stole twenty poppies

because I could not bring more

My Tongue Is Like An Old Man

my tongue is like an old man

when I speak

when I write

when I think

in another language

as an old man

my tongue needs

an always-ready crouch

a chair or a sofa

where to lay its body

my tongue it's like a young lover

burning with desire

to discover the beloved body

as the hand of a young lover

my tongue moves itself

through creases and

shapes and

tastes and

smells

of the beloved body

my tongue is like a spectacle lens

that needs papers and letters

to lay on

as the lens

my tongue changes

the words

the worlds

I speak

I don't think I've played Gary Bartz' music for a while.  He is a favorite of ours, and my husband even ran up to him for an autograph.  (He doesn't do that very often.)

Let's go back to 1976 for "JuJu Man": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lifGqtiHdQg

"I've Known Rivers" is even earlier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9WCFQzznC4

"Peace and Love" is from the same album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcSoXKNH2JA

"On a Misty Night" takes us to 1990: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTq-nZbWOM4