Long And Windy Road (October 21, 2019)

My feet

Firmly entrenched

On the lonely road

Of exile.

From a world

That I once breathed

And drank in

On a daily basis.

Where one's soul

Does mourn

Life's little things

Taken for granted.

Like the sweet perfume

Of a blossoming rose

After a harsh winter

Filled with snow and ice.

Smiles shared

So innocently

With total strangers

At nature's beauty.

Now - distance memory

Never again

To grace

One's scent of smell.

Concrete canyons

Dominate the emerging vista

That stands before me.

As I search

For a new place

To call home

For my beating heart.

Therisa © 2019

Author's note: Something that wrote itself, in 20 minutes. Finding a title for this poem? That's an entirely different kettle of fish! Sigh.

Candle In The Wind (October 20, 2019)

Need to know

If my existence

Moves the needle

Positively.

As transphobic darkness

Spreads globally.

Waging hatred

Through legislation

And the judiciary.

Even liberal

Tolerant countries

Like Canada

Danger persists.

Often

Underreported.

Even worse

If you're non-Caucasian

Or non-Christian.

Sadly

No one knows

True level of violence

For its trans-communities

As no official stats exist.

A justice system

Long in denial

About reality.

Far cry

From the American transgender

Experience.

To date

Eighteen trans-Americans

Been murdered

In 2019.

Ranking

Third deadliest country

Behind Mexico

And Brazil.

Often

Victims are

Non-Caucasian.

Their deaths

Crime of passion

In their viscous nature

Speaks of hate.

As I light my candle

For Day of Transgender Remembrance

On November 20th

Offering love and light.

Therisa © 2019  

Author’s note: A poem for Day of Transgender Remembrance (November 20)

October Rain (October 16, 2018)

Hello Darkness

My old lover

We meet

Once more.

As the Heavens

Open up

With frigid tears

On my face.

Soul cries out

For justice

So long denied

In coming.

Forgotten

What true freedom means

Against the repression

I've lived.

Voice muted

Shouting

Against the sins

You've hid behind.

Words - pale shadow

Of what they were

Not so long ago.

When I stood up

In counting myself

Among your foes.

Now

Nothing more

Than a faded memory.

Like autumn's

Fallen leaves

Filling my soulscape

With their colourful display.

As I wipe

These tainted reflections

From my soul.

Therisa © 2019  

Author's note: I started writing this, as another October storm drenched Toronto, in rain. Darkening my mood, to stay in bed today. As I worked on various poems.

Gathering Darkness (October 16, 2019)

Sea of chaos

Where answers exist

And questions

Are left unspoken.

Blurring

Knowledge

And ignorance.

People drown

In information tsunamis

Crying out

For non-existing order.

Hubris

Crowned loyalty

By the masses.

Regardless

Denying truths.

Polarizing events

Once consider

Sacrosanct.

Measured

By the death toll

Of systemic collapses

To society's most vulnerable.

Dystopian beliefs

Like a metastasized cancer

Spread throughout politics

Tainting the soul.

As graveyards grow

Row by row.

Therisa © 2019 

Rise Up, Rise Up (October 7, 2019)

Do you know

Why I'm crying?

Tears slide down

Streaking my face

In frustration.

Where walking is

Act of defiance

Against prejudice.

Which you claim

My very presence

Is causing.

As your entitlement

Base on hate

And ignorance

Is stripped away.

One layer

At a time.

Laying bare

The emptiness

Of your actions/words

Towards others.

Who challenge

Your dogmatic faith

With love and compassion.

Knowing

Freedom time 

Has come.

Therisa © 2019  

Author’s note: The following Toronto event, on September 28, 2019, inspired this poem: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/09/28/christian-groups-march-into-gay-village-leads-to-showdown-with-lgbtq-supporters.html

Blue (October 6, 2019)

In my head

Joni Mitchell sings

Both Sides Now

As tears flow.

My soul

A distance place

Where memories are

Bittersweet smile

Upon my face.

Of those times

Struggling to find

Life's rich message

In my mind.

Wondering

Does it matter

At all?

Darkness

Gathers round

Threatening my illusions

With the sound

Of truth.

Body rocks

Back and forth

Seeking that rest

From life's test.

Knowing

Time has come

Where I've emerged from.

Looking for

That final kiss

To life's bliss.

As Joni's voice

Fades away

In the background.

Therisa © 2019 

Endtimes (October 5, 2019)

Across the world

Darkness grows.

Where "truth" is

A weaponized opinion

Masquerading

As fact.

Earnest people speak

Like the Holy Gospel

In praising deceit.

Never mind

Constant correcting 

Or fact checking

By others.

Where 

The colour white

Is now - maroon

And vice-versa.

Creating a new lexicon

For speaking

And understanding

What truth is.

Which

George Orwell's 1984

Foreshadowed 

Seventy-one years ago.

As fact and fiction

Converge into one.

Therisa © 2019

Author’s note: It's ironic that President Donald Trump, would be the one who finally destroys the line between truth and fiction, with his claims of fake news, from his political opponents and national media sources, who disagree with his political philosophy.

Time Of Mourning (October 2, 2019)

It's equinox time

Crying jags renewed

With hurricanes

And tropical storms.

Descending on

Northern hemisphere

Full destructive fury

No mercy.

Daylight's banishment

Lamenting begins

Forewarning

Winter's arrival.

Fiery hued leaves

Funeral pyre

Falling like ashes

Covering the ground.

Autumn's palette

Of stormy gray skies

Exiles summer's blues tints

For dark ones.

Temperature drops

Near freezing

Hoarfrost covers everything

Crisp white jacket.

Crunching

When walked on.

Reminder

Cyclical nature

Of the world

We live in.

Therisa © 2019