Finessing Zero Tolerance (February 6, 2019)

Soul filled with ignorance and hate

Lashing out at specific targets

Dismissed: boys being boys

Generating another cycle

Silently endured

Harmed.

Healing

Speaking out

Breaking the circle

Starting with children's parents

Breaking down the cultural differences

Filling children with knowledge and compassion.

Last line of defense against abusers

In dealing with young children

Age appropriate punishment response

Using outright expulsion

No one

Wins.

Therisa © 2019

Author's note: As many people know, I have experienced bullying/abusive behaviour, for most of my life, as reflected in my poetry. This may shock some people, but I have trouble applying zero tolerance policy to children, who are strongly influenced by their parents' attitudes, (religious beliefs) and behaviour. I think that society has swing too far, in the other direction, in the punishing of these abusive kids. Who, in many cases, are the victims of abuse/bullying, themselves. How we judge and punish these children, must be flexible and fitting to the crime committed. One size fit all, only creates a harmful environment that these zero tolerance policies are trying to eliminate. Local board policy should act, as a guideline for state/provincial/territorial legislation, in handle these types of crime of power.

This experimental poetic form, I am thinking of calling it, "roller coaster". It breaks down, in the following stanzas:

1st stanza:  6 words/5 words/4 words/3 words/2 words/1 word

2nd stanza: 1 word/2 words/3 words/4 words/5 words/6 words

3rd stanza:  6 words/5 words/4 words/3 words/2 words/1 word

Three stanzas for a total of 63 words.

Written for Poets United's midweek motif, using the word prompt of: zero tolerance.

Selling Our Souls, For A Handful Of Coins (February 4, 2019)

Another cycle Has come and past As we await our salvation From ourselves. Depending Where one lives We're either frying Under extreme heat Like a plump sausage As Australia is. Or frozen solid Like bland tasteless tv dinners Brutally experienced  By most North Americans In the dyng moments Of January 2019. While we continue  To argue Seating arrangement. Our cruise ship sinks Ever deeper Into the deadly waters Of global warming. Elected governments Vaingloriously proclaim Their destructive intentions To the environment For a fast dollar Or two. In their shortsighted greed Appeasing financial And political supporters Whose bank accounts They now feed. Turning a willful blind eye To the physical evidence As various species Of plants and animals Become extinct. Some cases Overnight. What point Do we realize Our actions are Killing us Ever so slowly. Is it too late As the planetary lungs Are recklessly harvested For another hectare Of short-term pasture land. Else Latest slash and burn victim Feeding western society Growing dietary demands For plant-based foods. Knowing Once destroyed We can never replace These global lungs. Therisa © 2019

Wordblind (February 5, 2011)

I don't understand

Why people say

My writing is powerful

To them.

When

All I see

Is a bunch of characters

Written in my writing.

Or typed

On a computer screen.

What is wrong with me

That I am blind

To this power

Of my written verse.

Or is it

Just another example

Of the damage done

From my childhood?

Just once

I would love

To see.

What others witness

In my own writing.

Therisa © 2019

Reviving A Revolution (January 21, 2019)

On April 4, 2019

Marks the 51st anniversary

Of Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Assassination.

For many people

Dr King lead

The Civil Rights Movement

That gripped America

During the 1950s and 1960s.

Speaking of economic

And societal change

That branded him

A Communist radical.

By ruling

White male elites

Of his time.

Over the years

His words

Have become

Prophesied reality.

Of the slow

And painful crawl

To real change.

That has claimed

The lives

Of too many martyrs.

As taken up

By the current

Progressive Movement

Within the Democratic Party.

In the hallowed halls

Of Congress.

And yet

The climate change

He spoke of.

Still remains

A distance dream

For far too many people.

Regardless

Of our nationality

And age.

A goal

Everyone must

And should strive for.

Where equal value

For equal work

Isn't a chanted slogan

But reality for all.

And justice

Isn't defined

By one's skin colour

Religion/political beliefs

Or gender/sexual orientation.

A reality

Many LGBTQ+ people

We live with

On a daily basis.

In finding

That small corner

Where Dr King’s vision

Is reality.

Therisa © 2019

Author’s note: Written for Poets United midweek motif: climate change.

Moving Beyond Bleak Street (January 21, 2019)

Across my soulscape

Bitter north wind blows

Freezing me

With dread.

Frozen crystal tears

Fall around me

Muffling my footsteps.

As I stumble

Over hidden cracks

No one notices.

Trying to understand

This judgment need

Condemning those

Who are different.

Wondering

When did my blindness

Grow so pronounced.

In missing

This climate change

Before me.

Seeing it

For first time

Without blinkers on.

How distorted

Everything is.

Knowing

Only matter of time

Before it lands

On my doorstep.

Given the shift

Of the political reality

The worlds I live in.

Therisa © 2019

Author's note: Written for Poets United midweek motif: climate change.

I know, many of the comments below, approach this poem, as being about climate change (physical impact of humanity's destructive nature on the world at large). It is about climate change, but a different definition, as I apply it to the social and political world, surrounding the transcommunity. Will admit that I'm so tired of having to explain everything to cisgender world.

Scatterbrain (January 17, 2019)

It's 2:28 am

Another night

Of broken sleep.

Chaotic negative thoughts

Running everywhere

No clear direction

Or any sign of ending.

Questioning everything

To breakdown

These negative thought

Reinforced loops

Holding me captive.

Running raggety

As signs of cold/flu

Mounting new offensive

Over my abused body.

Tissue boxes decimated

With alarming ease

By my bedside.

Wondering

How many trees

Been sacrificed

For this.

Paper waste grows

Into plastic containers

And finite space

Is overflowing.

Each nasal explosion

Venus and Squeak hide

Into parts unknown.

And yet

Perfectly allowable

Sneezing cat germs

All over me.

Traitors!

Talk about

Double standard.

As I count

Number of days

Til winter’s end.

Therisa © 2019

Hypocrisy (January 13, 2019)

Ever stopped

And listen to yourself

Speak?

Describing a person

As your ------- friend?

(Please use

Whatever marginalized group

Best fits.)

Tipping the scales

To exclusion

And hate.

However

You deny this.

Only value

Political checkmark

On invisible list

Showing “liberal” creds.

Otherwise

No interaction.

Never looking

Beyond the surface

Seeing who's standing

Before you.

Lost opportunity

In building bridges

Across rivers of ignorance

And lakes of hate.

Restoring equilibrium

Out of chaos

That’s modern life.

Therisa © 2019

Tiny Steps Forward (January 10, 2019)

So easily

Our tears are ignored.

As if

We don't matter

To those politicians

In power.

When we struggle

For acceptance and tolerance

Across the rainbow of life.

A courageous solitary mother

Stands alone.

Holds her sign

With proud dignity

Supporting her transdaughter

As she marches

In Toronto's Pride Parade.

Beacon of love and light

Counterbalancing

The hate and darkness

Too many of us

Have experienced.

So much

Has changed

In the past 12+ years.

For people

Like her transdaughter

And myself.

And yet

We’ve barely scratched the surface

Embracing equality for everyone.

In fighting

A transphobic/homophobic

Government of Ontario

That listens to

A regressive minority.

Who believe

Teaching students

In Sex-Ed

About gender identity

And various sexualities

Is corrupting Ontario’s children.

Never realizing

The destructive power

This ignorance has.

As we struggle

With chronic depression

Anxiety disorders

And suicidal thoughts.

One suicide

Is one

Too many.

Regardless

Of the reason

Or cause.

Realize this

More than a third

Of all transgender children

Will/have attempt suicide

Before the age of 20.

I know this

For I was

One of those children.

To do nothing

Means covering our hands

In the blood of innocence.

Therisa © 2019

Author's note: The exact numbers for transgender children and adults, are at best, a
guesstimation, as there is no definite number for the population percentage that identity, as
being transgender.

As some regions of Canada don't differentiate between the cisgender and transgender,
when it comes to suicide, suicide attempt, and suicidal thoughts. There is no hard
number for Canada. Although, various regions and provinces have individual numbers.

Being transgender, the odds are even higher that you'll experience this, especially, if
you have been rejected, by your family and friends.