A Mid-April Thought (April 15, 2019)

Before your eyes

Is this antithesis poem

To the current political message

Of hate.

One’s love hope

And compassion

Aren’t held hostage

In a sea of anger.

Today

Unlike yesterday

You shall be

Held accountable

For lives lost.

And I don’t mean

Capital punishment

For those

Criminally guilty.

Already

Too many deaths

And martyrs

As is.

Rather

Rebuilding bridges

For lives damaged

And families destroyed

By your rages.

One person

At a time.

Uniting a nation

As one

Under the rule

Of law.

And not

Some arbitrary whim

Based on pseudo science

Or ignorance.

But truth honour

And acceptance.

These differences

Aren’t a weakness

Meant to be exploited.

But

An internal strength

To be celebrated

And cherished.

As part

Of the human existence

In daily life.

Therisa © 2019

The Dire Reality (April 13, 2019)

I wish

We didn’t need

Black History Month

(Month of February, for Canada and the U.S.)

International Women’s Day

(March 8th)

Transgender Day of Visibility

(March 31st)

Or Day of Transgender Remembrance

(November 20th).

Sadly

We need these dates

And more

On the calendar.

Too long

A small cadre

Of white Christian men

Have controlled nations

As their own private fiefdoms.

Imposing their will

Whenever threatened

With being ousted.

Whether

It be politically

Economically

Or socially.

Am so tired

Of having people

Forced to place their dreams

On hold.

Due to the fear

A love one

Will be attacked

As retribution

For being honest.

Many ways

It feels like

We’ve drifted backwards

To the late 1970s/early 1980s.

When HIV/AIDS

Exploded on the world

Cutting a tragically deadly swath

Through the LGBTQ+ community.

From which

A renewed Gay activist voice

Fought long dark odds

Emerging from their stark closets

For overdue changes.

Now

Transgender community faces

A similar question

About our existence.

Now

Unlike then

Finding supporters

Is harder.

Given the stigma

That surrounds people

Like myself.

As draconian legislation

Is being globally enacted

By various countries

Limiting our rights

As a person.

Therisa © 2019

Author's note: The following op-ed article, from The Globe and Mail, inspired this very visible response, by me:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-for-transgenders-an-imperfect-ally-is-better-than-no-ally-at-all/?utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=Globe%20Opinion&utm_type=text&utm_content=GlobeOpinion&utm_campaign=2019-4-1_16&cu_id=JQjT1oWieJ1qqoS5Ik1fQEgUgOeYd57lsOqT%2F9eGmOY%3D

Ironically, on the previous Thursday, I was talking about this very issue, with a local

librarian, expressing my fears that the trans-community was being forced back, into the closet. Which we have fought so hard, to escape from, over the past several decades. Now, through draconian legislation, the religious and social conservatives are rolling back the clock, to a time, when our hard fought rights didn’t exist, where it was acceptable for gay and trans bashing.