Tuesday 21 January 2020

Keeping The Dream Alive (January 21, 2020)



My eyes turn southwards
To the United States
As the tears flow
Upon learning
The latest news
Of a sister's death.

Forcing my anger down
Knowing another hate crime
Won't be solved
By the local police.

As I wonder
Why African-Americans
Aren't crying out
At the injustice done
To their Trans sisters. 

Given Black Lives Matter
Vocal protests
Against "white society" treatment
Of the "black minority."

Was the 1968 death
Of Rev Martin Luther King Jr
In Memphis, Tennessee
The death knell
For the African-American
Civil Rights Movement?

Turning inwards
In mourning
Over the rising
Vietnam War death toll
And other societal injustices.

Turning aside
Rev King's message
Of love and hope
Into apathy and despair.

Shamefully
The LGBTQ+ community
Hasn't done any better
Supporting trans African-Americans
Or acknowledging this crisis.

Often
Transcommunity is thrown 
Under the bus
Greasing the wheels of progress 
Advancing Gay/Lesbian rights.

Sparking the formation
And first observation
Day of Transgender Remembrance 
In November 20, 1999.

Crossing racial lines
In Boston, Massachusetts
And San Francisco, California
Honouring Rita Hester's life.

Bearing fruit
To Rev King's 1963 speech
That his "dream" is possible
And still alive. 

Therisa © 2020   

Author’s note: I started writing this poem, in anger, given the growing problem for my African-American transsisters. As the poem progressed, I found myself, in a place where dreams are, the fragile thing that makes hope, come alive.

A River Standing Still (January 20, 2020)

Oppression is
A river dammed
Who's water
Seek freedom.

Too long
We have accepted
America's Apartheid
As the norm.

Based on
Economic religious
And political dogma
Encouraging intolerance
And ignorance.

On August 28, 1963
One of the last century's
Greatest speech for freedom
Struck a blow
Against this state.

As Rev Martin Luther King Jr
Delivered "I Have A Dream" speech
Before the Lincoln Memorial
During the "March on Washington
For Jobs and Freedom."

All people benefit
And not
Just a select few.

Want to say
Rev King's words
Destroyed this
Repression.

Unleashing 
A tsunami of liberties
Displacing this brackish waters
That America drowns in.

Sadly
Breaches been repaired
Building ever higher.

Entrapping
Even greater population
Seeking the "promised land"
Rev King spoke of.

Finding a blighted
Drought stricken land
Instead.

As Americans
Celebrate Martin Luther King Day
On January 20, 2020.

Therisa © 2020   

Author’s note: Written for Earthweal’s weekly prompt: Water.

Ghost Of 3 Mile Island (January 19, 2020)

On Sunday
January 12, 2020
As I awoke
An email account explodes.

Updates flash
Fast and furious
An unspecified nuclear incident
At Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.

As the crow flies
Distance of 20 km
From my apartment
To the reactors.

First thought
WTF....

Mental cobwebs
Slowly clear away
Leaving me
Stunned and anxious.

Two hours later
From first
To last update.

Whatever emergency
Had happened
It was too late
For panicking.

Grimly
Searching news sites
For clues.

Is this Canada's version
Of 3 Mile Island
In the 40+ year old
CANDU reactors?

This March
Marks 41 years
Partial core meltdown 
Of the American nuclear site.

(CANDU reactors
Use heavy water [D2O]
And unenriched uranium.

(All US commercial models
Use enriched uranium
And light water {H2O}.)

Unlike 3 Mile Island
Pickering was human error
Transmitting internal message
Externally province-wide
During one of two
Daily tests.

Ontario seeks
Maximized profits
From aging reactors
At lifecycle's end.

What point
Is public safety worth
A few billion dollars
To the health concerns
For its citizens.

As Ontario's Solicitor General 
Promises a full investigation
Into Pickering.

Never mind
Premier Ford's government
Has scrapped multiple contracts
Totalling almost $300 million (Cdn)
For wind-power generated electricity
Since June 2018.

As Ontario has
No concrete future plans
Beyond those drawn
On the back of a napkin.

Requiring years
Of research and approvals
Before the political photo op
For the groundbreaking
To whatever replaces
Pickering's reactors.

Therisa © 2020   

Author’s note: Some background information links:




Blocked & Poisoned (January 19, 2020)

H-2-O
Most precious gift:

Water.

Without which
No life can exist
On this planet.

Tainting it
Through our averse
And greedy ways
Culling countless species
With wanton waste.

Killing powerful rivers
Like the Colorado
Into muddy streams.

Failing
To reach oceans
With dams
And other needs.

As the environment
Collapses
Upon itself.

Therisa © 2020 

Friday 10 January 2020

Fyre, Fyre (January 10, 2020)

"How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How can we sleep when our beds are burning?"

Midnight Oil, Beds Are Burning (1987)

From the safety
Of my Toronto apartment
Half a world away.

Australia's holocaust unfold
Unimaginable ferocity
And scale.

Wiping out
Millions of years
Of evolution.

There's no reversing
Extinction
Once gone - is forever. 

From New Zealand's
South Island
(About 2 000 km away)
Angry orange skies
Dominate the horizon.

Toxic fires
Burn unabated
Spewing forth gases
Accelerating climate change.

Across Australia
Pregnant women march
Concern about their health
And the unborn child
They carry.

Morrison - like Nero
Are seen fiddling their lyre
Unable to do anything
But watch.

As Australians wonder
When this Dreamtime horror
Will ever end.

Therisa © 2020  

Author's note:

Before Paradise, California, or the Australian wildfires of 2019-20, there was Fort
McMurray, Alberta. 

On May 1, 2016, the wildfire started that would, within 2 days, forced the evacuation of this
northern Alberta community of nearly 88 000 people. Which, is the operational hub for
Alberta's tar sand extraction, via pit mining. Mercifully, only 2 deaths were indirectly
linked to the fire.

Until August 2, 2016, when the fire was finally extinguished, almost 560 000 hectares
(1.46 million acres) of land was burnt. Alberta's Ministry of Natural Resources forest
firefighters, were joined by the Canadian military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
and other provinces' forest firefighters. Unlike Australia, Canadian forest firefighters,
are professionals and not volunteers.

The final bill, for this fire and recovery, was Cdn$9.9 billion, paid out by insurance
companies and various levels of government. I remember the national telethon,
held during prime time, on a Friday, by all of Canada's major TV networks, English
and French. Raising funds, for those without coverage and other needs.

Truthfully, Canada, as a whole, has gotten off lucky, with deaths and damage done.
Considering that 90% of the population occupies 10% of the land, nearest to the US
border. Next time, we may face a similar situation, as our Commonwealth sister,
Australia, is right now.

For the Earthweal weekly challenge : FIRE.

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