I Wish I'd Written This

Purple My Heart

By Odilia Galvan Rodriguez

            for dad

purple my heart
at nine years old
watching the man I loved

more than anyone in the world
sitting in the blue-red light 
coming through
the picture window
holding in his strong hands 
the case 
that held 
all he had to show
for all those hundreds 
of lives he’d taken
their spirits brought him 
countless sleepless nights
or took him in and out 
of the other side 
with night sweats 
the wake up screaming 
nightmares
full of those violet faces
of his ghost sickness

purple the heart
my father won in Korea 
then this trophy case 
shattered and split
with dried seeds of blood 
on still clenched fist
all his medals torn apart
ripped and wrinkled ribbons 
resting on splintered glass
meaningless medallions 
tossed aside in disgust 
he, repeating over and over
I did this for what?

purple the oath
of loyalty 
my father took
pledged his life
to defend his country
from the Reds
but after all was said 
the speeches of good will

could not quell the visions
of ones that looked up at him
from charred fields of death
where his big guns had buried them
mirrored back were faces of kin
they claimed him more 
than the white man did
when he returned home

from Korea
jobs and housing

barred from him
and his kind

purple the smoke of
burning cedar and sage
of lavender oil rubbed 
deep into head, chest 
hands and feet
elders predicted
there was not enough 
their medicine could do
no amount of ceremony 
could wash away 
that amount blood
the sickness 
would have to fade 
like the signs
of fire, flood or 
earthquake
with the years
he’d have to pray 
away the madness 
await his destiny 

purple the sorrow cloth
lining his coffin 
covering the mirrors 
after his death
rain through 
street lamp glow
the sunset
ripple clouds
in a sky so blue
amaranth  amethyst
heliotrope  lavender
lilacs  lupines  crocuses new
flowers on a heroes grave

purpled the night's glow
seeping through my window
his candles on the dresser
lighting the dark

Dad, Gilberto Rodriguez Paredes, far left, and friends 
during the Korean "Conflict"  - The Forgotten War.


I first encountered Odilia's work on MySpace. Very artistic, she had one of the most visually colourful and exotic blogs there, and it was full of wonderful poetry. A prolific poet, she did many series of haiku, and I considered her the master of the pantoum (she was experimental within the form). As you can see, she is equally brilliant in free verse.  I'm sure you understand why I chose this particular poem — it's so moving!

Odilia says of herself:

Author Odilia Galván Rodríguez, is of Chicano-Lipan Apache ancestry, born in Galveston, Texas and raised on the south side of Chicago. As a social justice activist for many years, Ms. Galván Rodríguez worked as a community and labor organizer, for the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO and other community based organizations, and served on various city/county boards and commissions. She is the author of three books of poetry, of which Migratory Birds: New and Noted Poems, is her latest publication.  Her creative writing has appeared in various literary journals and anthologies such as, The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples, New Chicana / Chicano Writing: 1& 2, Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native American Women's Writings of North America, Here is my kingdom: Hispanic-American literature and art for young people, Zyzzyva, The Beltway Poetry Quarterly, La Bloga as well as other online sites. She most recently worked as the English Edition Editor for Tricontinental Magazine, in Havana, Cuba under OSPAAAL, an NGO with consultative status to the United Nations.  She is also one of the facilitators of Poets Responding to SB1070, a Facebook page dedicated to calling attention to the unjust laws recently passed in Arizona which target Latinos, and teaches Empowering People Through Creative Writing Workshops nationally.  

You can read more of her poetry at her blog, feathers from the muse's wings, or in her Facebook Notes, and you can hear her read (beautifully!) on YouTube. The title poem of her book, Migratory Birds, is at Poem Hunter, and you can find the book at GoodReads.


Any poem or photo used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remains the property of the copyright holder (usually its author).