Remembering Of Our 2 Spirited Siblings (November 18, 2019)

You speak 

Sins of the Fathers

Visited upon children

In the name of righteousness.

People

And cultures destroyed

By moral crusades

For your "God"

Of love and compassion.

Unrepentantly justified

Religious belief

Bringing civilization

To these heathen savages.

Of unmarked

Abandoned mass graves

In isolated residential schools

Throughout the north.

Echoing

Into the present

As entire communities

Struggle for survival

And identify.

Tears I shed

For our Indigenous

Brothers and sisters

Denied their birthright

By Western society.

As they fight

Long and hard

To reclaim

What was stolen.

Of lost lives

We'll never know

Their name

To properly honour them.

As we remember

Our murdered siblings.

Regardless

Of skin colour 

And religious beliefs

On November 20th

Day of Transgender Remembrance.

May their souls

Find peace

So long denied

In life.

Therisa © 2019 

Author’s note: Remembering our Indigenous brothers and sisters, who have for too long been tossed away, left to deal with the fall out of the colonization of their culture and religious beliefs.

My Emotional Days (November 20, 2018)

It's November 20th

Is possibly

Third hardest emotional day

On the calendar

After July 1st

And November 15th.

July 1, 2006 (Canada Day)

Accidentally

Outed myself

To mom.

Let's just say

My apartment was

Slightly warmer

Than Antarctica winter storm

From her reaction.

As I tailspinned

Into month long bout

Of suicidal depression

That almost cost me

Everything.

And November 15th

Symbolic day

For death and rebirth

Spiritually and physically.

November 15, 1998

Around 9:50 pm

Dad was declared dead

Surviving almost 36 hours

Without life support.

Two days prior

He suffered

A fatal heart attack.

Although

Revived by paramedics

He was brain dead.

Seven years later

Unseasonably warm

November day.

Standing over dad's grave

Broke down and cried

In admitting my true self

A transgender woman

Therisa was reborn.

Sigh.

And now

Day of Transgender

Remembrance.

Scared

I'll hear names

Of people

That I know.

Recalling

My own brushes

With death

By other people.

Therisa © 2018

November 20th (November 4, 2018)

Hope is

Fragile flower

Pushing its way

Through life's rubble

Precariously.

In seeking love

That heals

And binds us

As one.

Knowing

One moment

Changes everything.

As we gather

On November 20th

Day of Transgender

Remembrance.

Honouring those

Hastily taken

By ignorance/hate

This past year.

Candlelight vigil

Speaking those names

Out loud

Forever silenced

As tears flow.

Single step

In healing process

For our shared community

Trans and cisgender.

(Shall you join us

Please remember

No cameras/recording devices

Thank you.)

Breaking barriers

Reminding us

Struggle for acceptance

Never over.

Winter’s darkest days

Stand before us

U.S. President Trump vowing

Legally defining us

Out of existence.

Leader of the free world

Indeed.

Not first

Nor last time

Our rights denied.

And yes

Mr President

Everyone is responsible

For their spoken

And written words.

Especially those

Inspiring others

To use force

Despite your claims

Otherwise.

Therisa © 2018

Author's note: I wish to thank the generous support of Mary Kling (https://inthecornerofmyeye.blogspot.com), Sherry Marr (https://stardreamingwithsherrybluesky.blogspot.com) and Rosemary Nissen-Wade (https://enheduannasdaughter.blogspot.com), who beta read this poem, offering suggestions for improvement and personal encouragement. All three women, are gifted poets, in their own right. Please support them, by reading their poetry and leaving your comments behind.

For more information about your local Day of Transgender Remembrance ceremonies, please contact your local LGBTQ+ centre.

November 10-20th, is one of the darkest period of the year, for myself, as I struggle with the beginning of SAD, for this fall/winter season. While observing important remembrance dates and personal anniversaries that hit me hard, every year. It's this reason, I call November, the month of death.

Undertaking the process of transitioning, is a lifequest that the ciscommunity doesn't really understand the ramifications of our needs. Knowing, we're crossing boundaries and taboos that many cultures and societies are struggling to address. Even within gay and lesbian communities, this is reflexive of the issues, facing trans/cisgender people.

Before anyone thinks, the LGBTQ+ community is, one huge homogeneous group, we're not. Too often, the transcommunity has been the sacrificial lamb, in the passage of gay/lesbian legal and constitutional rights. Often, leaving us, with the bitter taste of betrayal and frustration.

Please don't label the entire ciscommunity, as being totally transphobic. Some of our strongest defenders and fighters, are found here, whether straight or gay/lesbian. Going places, denied to us, for political and economic reasons.

For them, I am entirely grateful for their support. Knowing, I wouldn't be, in this time or place, to write about my own experiences and thoughts, as a Canadian, who is transgender. Fearing the growing backlash that's emerging from the United States and other countries, who have political extremist heads of government. May we avoid a repeat of the 1930s, in the subjectation of minority groups, like the LGBTQ+ community.

For the record,  The Rose is one of those song that I can't listen to, without seriously crying, anytime, I hear it. Having been sung at several funeral and memorial services, I have attended. Another song is Up Where We Belong.

Opening Up One's Eyes (November 7, 2015)

Courtesy of www.newwayministery.wordpress.com

In my mind

The old Negro gospel

"We shall overcome"

Is being sung

Before my eyes.

Looking back

More than 60 years

In the struggle

For Civil Rights

And true equality.

Of the many senseless deaths

Which mark

Our journey forward

From the darkness

Of hate and fear.

Despite

The many legal battles

Fought and won.

Still

I feel like

A third class citizen

In the country

I was born

In.

With it's rigid hierarchy

That places

Anyone

Who is different

On the outside

Looking in.

Tolerating us

Like a boorish family member

They want

To disappear.

I wish

You could experience

A week

In my shoes.

Confronting

The societal

And institutional barriers

You've erected

Over the centuries.

In keeping

Yourself

Safe

From the reality

Of my life.

Realizing

Your position of power

Is paid.

At a heavy price

By people

Like myself.


Therisa © 2015

Author's note: This is, one of two poems that I wrote for Day of Trans-Remembrance, November 20, 2015. The other one, titled, "The Crater", is in the process of having a clay ceramic statue being created, as I write this. Am hoping, I can have it painted and done, its second and final firing. Thus, being able to post together, here.


For those, who are just discovering me, I have survived numerous attempts on my life, from a family member, whom I have broken off, all ties with, since August 2007. Also, have threatened, by various individuals, who have chased me, on foot or by rode the back of my legs, with their car, while laughing, about it. As if, it was one huge joke, with me, being the punch line, to it.


And sadly, I have tried, on numerous occasions, to take my life, when my depression has reached, such dark levels, the bottom of the Black Sea is a brilliantly lit walk, in the park, by comparison. With my last attempt occurring, during the holiday season of 2010-11.