The Unlit Candle (June 21, 2018)

With every whispered word

My soul grows

In a spotlight of hope

That's shines upon me

Reflecting an inner truth

Bigger than any of us.

And yet

I grope around

As if

I'm totally blind

Unable to see

The world before me.

Where shadows are

Half formed dream visions

Of what might be

As I close my eyes

Seeing for the very first time

My real self.

Like a baby

Learning to walk

My outstretched hand

Reaches for the unknown

Never sure

If I will fall.

My legs want to run

Before I can walk

Carrying me

To distance shores

And lands

Within myself.

In seeking

An inner light

Where truth and peace

Shine like an inner beacon

Guiding my passage

Through life.

Therisa © 2018

Author’s note: Another poem, for this year’s Pride Poetry.

Entering The Light (June 20, 2018)

I stand before you

My hands reaching out

Trembling with fear

Scared that I have hurt you

With the words

I had to say.

Knowing

That they carry

A double edged sword

To my soul

Like a dagger plunged

Ever so deep.

Unable to say

The reasons why

That you'll understand

Why this pain grows

Like a wildfire

Consuming all.

The bitter ashes

Is all

I can taste

Upon my body

As the wind blows

Into my face.

As I lay naked

Before you

My soul stripped

Prostrated to the altar

Awaiting your word

Your gentle touch.

Knowing

My honest words

Are wounds to you

However you denied it

Your eyes say otherwise

Having said too much.

Therisa © 2018

Author's note: Another late night/early morning poem, I have written. Am surprised that it took 30 minutes, from start to finish, to write this. And yes, I had REM’s Losing My Religion playing in my mind, as I wrote this.

This poem, for me, is about the aftermath of coming out to someone, who is close to you, emotionally. I hope, I have done justice and respect to REM and their song.

A poem for this year's Pride Poetry.

Ambivalous (June 13, 2018)

Nine days time

The LGBTQ+ community

Will be marching

In Toronto's Gay village.

Personally

I wouldn't miss it

If the various Pride events

Were to disappear

From Toronto's social calendar.

What started off

As a protest demonstration

Against Toronto's police

Blatant homophobic harassment

Of the gay community

In 1981.

Has become

An institutional cash cow

For Toronto's tourism

And hospitality industries.

Drawing visitors

Locally nationally

And internationally

To one of the world's largest

Organized Pride events.

And yet

Between 1981 and now

It lost its political direction

In becoming

A straight event.

As minority groups

Push the status quo

Forcing the white gay centric

Pride Toronto leadership

To look outside of the box.

Regarding

Ethnic minorities

And transgender people

Within the LGBTQ+ community.

Especially

The often rocky relationship

With Toronto Police Service

In their dealings

Towards the various ethnic groups

Of Toronto's LGBTQ+ community.

In the deliberate setting

Of honey traps

To entrap gay men

In certain public areas.

Never stopping

After the 1981 bathhouse raids

That sparked the origin

Of Pride Toronto.

Something

The gay community

Keeps silent about.

As for the 2014 comments

Premier Ford made

About the Pride parade:

“...middle-aged men

with pot bellies"

ran down the street

"buck naked...." (1)

I'm laughing myself

Silly

In acute pain

At the stupidity

Of his remark.

Should any gay man

Even leave their place

Remotely dressed

In this fashion.

They would be arrested

And face charges

Of indecent exposure

And public nudity

By the police.

Unless

Premier Ford

You're channeling

Your own inner gay self.

If so

Time to get

Your own freak out

On June 24

And party.

Therisa © 2018

Author’s note: (1)blogto.com/city/2018/06/doug-ford-police-toronto-pride-parade/

Business As Usual (May 12, 2018)

It's so easy

To let anger

Lead us

In life.

Placing all of the blame

On others

For our actions

(Or inactions).

In waving the flag

That we salute

Daily.

As if

We have placed

A cauterizing iron

To our seeing eyes

Rendering us

Blind.

Ignoring those

Who are courageous

To speak the truth

In our deaf ears.

While we wallow

In stagnant pools

Of our waste

That we can no longer smell

From the toxicity

Of our chemical society.

Blindly

Groping around

Like lepers

Unable to feel

Our feet and hands

Touching the land

Around us.

Across the table

Various spice packages

Laid opened and abandoned

As food passes our palate

Never savoured or appreciated

As if

Our tongues have been

Amputated.

Have we lost

All of our senses

Of what it means

To be a compassionate person?

Where skin colour

Ethnicity religious beliefs

And sexual/gender orientation

Trumps all else.

In placing artificial barriers

That hateful divides people

Into the category

Of “us” and “them”.

Welcome to the world

Of 21st century America

Home of the dispossess

And land of the bigot.

Therisa © 2018

Author's note: Sigh, I feel like President Trump has advanced the nuclear doomsday clock forward by 45 seconds towards midnight and total destruction,  with his latest actions.

Just Being Me (June 7, 2018)

Throughout the years

You've been my anchor

That's held me

Upright.

During those stormy nights

My body awashed

Against the rocky shores

Of life.

When Death stood

By my side

A constant companion

During the dark years.

Where gender identity

Is a littered battleground

With too many bodies stolen

Before their time.

As baby blue

And passionate pink tears

Flow together

In a bitter white stream.

Want to scream

At the top of my voice

“Fuck you assholes"

To all of society.

But know

Society will never understand

My anger and hurt

I'm releasing.

A body trapped

Between two genders

Never fully one

Or the other.

And yet

You've been

The one

I've sought out.

Knowing

The crippling barriers

Society has erected

Against someone

Like myself.

In transitioning

Like a butterfly

From the cocoon

Of my male pupa.

Therisa © 2018

Author's note: I would like to remind everyone that the “T” in LGBTQ+, stands for transgender, which many people forget. When they talk about issues that affects the entire community, a whole. As if, we’re the forgotten sibling, when talking about equality for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Please remember this, as your local community celebrates PRIDE.