System Down (August 25, 2014)

Optical illusion

War fought and won

Through the legal

And political systems.

Discrimination

Although illegal

Is fact of life

With a bitter smile.

Ghettoization

By fear

And economic needs

Just out of sight.

Children are cannibalized

Without a second thought

Mental health system

Drowning in numbers.

Hope

A caustic pill

Things will get better.

Therisa © 2014

Author's note: Written during the Ferguson, Mo, civil unrest, as I struggled, with my second bout of severe agoraphobia, costing me, the summer of 2014.

Avenue Of Broken Dreams (December 18, 2015)

It's month end

Again.

As I walk

Down the Danforth

On my monthly pilgrimage

For food money

And transit tokens.

Striding past

A once thriving Mecca

For small independent businesses.

But

No more.

Instead

Dust mice and spiders

Now

Hold their daily courts

In these abandoned shops.

Everywhere

One looks

"For lease" signs

Have sprung up

Like a field of Dandelions

Assaulting ones eyes.

The lucky property owners

Have found

Their "Sugar Daddies"

Or "Sugar Mommas".

In rich developers

Seeking to build

Condo towers

With their gentrification

Dream.

Leaving the community

Bereaved and poorer.

As part

Of its soul

Is left behind

To die.


Therisa © 2015

Author's Notes: I live, in 1 of 13 communities that the city of Toronto and various NGOs have labelled, as "high priority neighbourhood", which translates, into English, as high levels of poverty, with the lack of resources and willpower to change this. Even convenience stores have gone bankrupt, here.