Truck

4 Paintings by Gabriel Navar

                                                        App 4 moot points

Postinformationagenarcissism

                                                        Grownbeardemen

                                                         Swirlingthoughts

5 Poems by Gabriel Navar

sky’s  streams 

swim, swim open flow

wavy stream dizzy streak

wet, lazy lake throw

moon beam goose beak

gravy stream fashions crow, so sleek!

Pleiades-gleam, life-tree freak

crocodilian, red-eyed, red-lined escrow

moss-pebbled twigs, mud-creeked, gray-slicked

tumbled, liked, un-liked, poked, tweeted, pinned, googled, youtubed,

huddled-down, heavy rain, perpetual seeking,

  

yet unsought, fleeting thoughts,

but not lost, just unrest…

when lost, though, found,

then lost again

words are seedlings, forests over forests

a sea inside claws away

at the belly, the cheeks

tongue licks the eyes, wandering pink

swim stream dizzy, night’s thousand creeks

sky screams

blue then white then gold

swim swim, flow moon’s hold

sing, muse, sing love-long beams

string string along life-strong dreams

strong dreams...

app 4 inner cosmos

                         been havin’ some thoughts about revolution lately,

movements come to mind, and so do struggles and convulsions…

fights for unity and solutions

a meditation this is

arms wide open for love,

but if not that,

then for respect, for understanding and

for evolution of the mind, of consciousness

against stagnation

and senseless divisions…..

been havin’ some thoughts about creativity lately,

inspiration comes to mind, and so does music, rhymes and colors…

cultures in transition

if only an app existed for omissions of hatred, of ego trips, of oppression…

I’ll create one, or perhaps you will…

it’s within the trails of my vision

a meditation this is

heart wide open for progress,

but if not that,

then for the freedom, for peace and momentum in

pursuing one’s bliss

and inner cosmos

inner cosmos

the other selves

we returned to spend

some time getting lost again

amongst the gems of greens

  what gems… they glow and

  harbor lizards breaths,

 redwood trails and owl dreams

we returned to find

the mind in song once more…

in tune with the sound of streams

  what sounds, they flow

  and set flight to inner church

  lights that whisper in beams

we returned to live

that new day found here,

a home it always seems

  what home of homes

  where gold of night

  and every self redeems

Ode to Oakland

so,  what’s the deal?

let me  tell you that this culturally-rich ensemble of a city is an enviable,

internationally-recognized entity known for its arts, educators, athletes, poets, musicians, activists, engineers, culinary pros…

my heart, my soul goes out to you, Oakland, you are spiritually invigorating, revolutionary… in a constant state of flux, evolving…

east sides, west areas, northbound, downtown, uptown, the waterfront, the hills…

you are diversity incarnate, yet not without various issues, challenges…

but this is only due to your complexity,

a common attribute of  any first-class city worthy of world-wide recognition…

you are sophisticated, varied, intense and,

when one of your children strays away from you,

you are missed monumentally, monumentally

a walk with Carmen 

after having completed chores around the house and shutting off the television....

... tired of hearing those news channel talking heads chatter about

Arizona's then Oklahoma's then Connecticut's anti-immigrant rhetoric,

she decides to go for a walk and enjoy the gorgeous gray overcast afternoon...

soft patches of violet-blue slowly poking through like widening eyes in the heavens

reawakening to shower sun-mist.... it's always majestic

oh yes, what a beautiful Saturday, she thought, walking through sleepy streets,

lawns trimmed, jasmine bushes poked by hummingbirds, blond children chasing one another while grown-ups gossips amongst themselves, some frowning, some grinning

after having walked for about thirty minutes or so,

she notices screeching sounds emerging from the increasingly darkening sky

now turned into a deafening orange - blinding and hollering...

out of the corner of her eye, a middle-aged, self-entitled man with an unjustified ego

swings a blunt object at a green being....

his thoughts, his words resonate and hardly fade:

"go back to where you came from, alien!"

Gabriel Navar, a native of California, is an artist, poet and College Arts Educator. He holds a Masters in Fine Arts (Pictorial Arts concentration) from San José State University (1997) and from California State University, East Bay (1992, Bachelors in Art, Studio Arts concentration).  He loves making images (whether with lines, colors, or words) since he can remember. He started his career with crayon markings on the walls...