Chasing the Fairy #15

By: Gus Victoria

Memories not yet made

Fuel the lover’s flame

In the furnace of love,

That combustible crucible

That furnishes the blade

Upon which we all fall.

Lust is a hunger

Only ever delayed,

Never truly sated.

Conflict created

When two souls not fated

Play with temptation’s fire.

Burned in ectasy

To sinful ash.

Reborn in redemption.

Taking flight

To fall once more.

Whole again,

To break again

Upon the jagged crags

Of an unsheltered life.

Custodian of Justice

By: Gus Victoria

Revolutionary of mind

Revolutionary of heart

Love is thy currency

In a bankrupt world

That seeks to devour

The light it suppresses

The life it oppresses

Gorging on the foul refuse

Of State.

Sustained by its crumbs

Strengthened by its injustice.

As a blade

Tempered in the fire,

Sharp to make bleed,

Strong for the cut

You are an instrument

Of righteous anger

Of divine retribution.

Revolutionary, you destroy

And chaos you bring

So that others may build.

Revolutionary you save

Those cast off,

So that others may heal.

Hero to the hopeless,

Scourge to the opressor

Friend to the friendless

Custodian of justice.

Viva Mexico, Nuestra Madre

By: Gus Victoria

We dance today

For you,

We celebrate today

For you,

We are together today,

For you,

Five centuries you’ve been mother,

To lost children,

Five centuries you’ve been slave,

To lustful masters,

Five centuries you’ve cried tears of blood.

We rape your land,

We deny your past,

We destroy your future,

You are mother to us;

We praise you

As we deny you,

We idolize you,

As we forget,

We proclaim your beauty,

As we court foreign appeal,

Calmly you wait,

Quiet your strength,

Deep your resolve,

That someday

We, your children

Will take our inheritance,

And proudly proclaim your virtue,

As together in voice we call to you our mother,

Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!

Viva!

Sacbeob (White Roads)

By: Gus Victoria

White roads,

Sacbeob,

Made to wander

Ancient Mayab

From temple to palace

Under Zamna’s guidance

And Chac’s rain.

Sacbeob.

Each a path,

A journey chosen,

Traveled slowly.

A mystic way.

Feathered serpent,

Plumed master

In a house of stone,

Temple atop a castle,

I find

At the end of one.

Only one sacbe.

Mystic dwarf,

Magician in your structure

Bid me come

Along another.

To heaven and hell

The Twins beckon

As the Lords of Hell they defeat

In a grand court,

Xibalba is there at the end

Of another white road.

Xkeban and Utz-Colel,

The flower and the thorn,

Xtabentun and Ixtabay

Wait for me,

To discover at the end,

Another sacbe,

Another road traveled.

Another facet

Of the jeweled peninsula,

Of my beloved Mayab.

Of my home.

Indiana Gus - Mexican Adventure

By: Gus Victoria

There seems to be some bit of confusion as to my decision to soon go to Mexico. Let me, my friends, set the record straight as best I can. I indeed plan to leave soon. When the thought first occurred to me in the middle of last year I believed then that the trip would be a lengthy and potentially near-permanent move. Having been born there and with the majority of my family still residing there the pull is great. The desire to learn more about myself in the land of my birth was and is still nearly irresistible. Without a family to support and while I still have my health (for the most part) the time to go is now. I cannot delay this trip much longer. Its inevitability has been revealed to me in recent months. I will not be happy or feel myself on the right path if I do not take this trip soon. Beyond going, my expectations are few but my goals are many. I expect to learn as I complete those goals, but what I will learn or even how is up in the air. Mexico is a big place. The past there never dies and history is not forgotten.  Let me share a few things with you so you understand why I must go and what I plan on accomplishing while there. This blog will be updated prior to, during, and after the trip. So you can, in a way, join this journey with me.

Disney

Currently I work at Walt Disney World. It is murder to my artistic soul. The Disney product is great and the people I work with are quite wonderful. I owe much to the company and will never forget my time there as I have forged many lifelong friendships and more than one love. However, as great a company as it may be it is still a huge corporate entity and is therefore not a great home for truly free, artistic souls. We work to pay the bills and dabble in our art, whatever it may be, in our spare time. Spare time which, to make ends meet, slowly but steadily disappears. That may not be a consequence of a purely Disney problem but a wider societal problem I confess, but that it affects me is without doubt. I need to break those shackles of debt and (artistic) death while I am still able to. Add a family and children to support and my responsibilities makes those dreams of fulfilling my potential even more difficult to achieve. I’m not ready for that yet.

Right now I stand at a cross roads within the company. Concentrate, focus, and move up or leave. I choose to leave and follow my own dreams.

Mexico

Mexico is my birthplace. More than that, and forgive me, but I cannot make this sound unpretentious; Mexico is also my birthright. My family goes back nearly two decades here in the States, my entire life minus three years. In Mexico we are part of the tapestry of that nation. The name Victoria graces the very currency of the country and the other branches of the family are no less old or revered. There is the land that for centuries my forebears have called home.

I know it from stories and several trips throughout the years. I need more. I need to feel the magic of the land course through my veins and find its place on the page. As a writer, my inspiration is anchored by that immortal link to the land. I have a wonderful opportunity now to go and learn as I never have.

To travel the countryside for a bit and learn from the people that inhabit the small towns and the big city. To take pictures and steal words from the land and monuments erected over hundred and even thousands of years. To see in that mirror of time my own soul reflected and in that understood a bit more profoundly. Some stories will be collected and written down, others will take that reflection and knowledge and through the alchemy of the author be transformed into something worthwhile.

Hidden knowledge revealed.

The Family Business

Food. That is the immediate family business. My grandfather and uncles have restaurants and I wish to learn from their experience in starting one. Fret not friends! My restaurant eventually will find its way to Central Florida, but I need first to learn and perfect recipes. What better way to do that than in Mexico? I will learn how to make dishes native and common to Mexico. By the end of the year I hope my friends will be able to enjoy the fruits of this research. I am a perfectionist for what I am passionate about. Food, without doubt, is one of my top passions.

I’ll Be Back

This trip is not a one-way-never-see-you-again type of trip. Far from it. Too much of my life has taken root here in Florida for me to be prepared to move to another country yet, even if that country is Mexico. Its not an impossibility that I will someday make a home there, but not now, not yet. Too much to come back to right now.

Hope this clears things up a bit. As the time to leave approaches I’ll post links to where I will post articles, pictures, etc relating to the trip.

Days and Years

By: Gus Victoria

Days forgotten to years have turned

And the world has moved on,

No end was written

Before the book was closed.

The pages have yellowed,

Turned, tattered, and turned again.

To find what was missing

Reliving the past, aware

Of the fairy tale ended,

By two bound hearts created.

Memories burn ever clearer

Banishing the fog of vague recollection,

Consigned once to oblivion,

Yet kept hidden like jewels

In the heart,

Locked, until now.

Wounds never heal

When the pain

Is a preferred companion.

And the scar

The badge of finality.

The confession of loss.

The truth of oblivion.