Saturday, 29 February 2020

Not Another Read-through (Febraury 20, 2020)

It’s the month of fevers
People are looking for dreams
To hitch their wagons to.
In breaking
With the past
That burns arounds them
Filling their souls
With toxic exhaust.
To do otherwise
Is suicidal
Spiritually and physically.
Can’t stop the tears
Which flow down
At the chances
We’ve squandered.
Have seen the future
That awaits us
Horror filled nightmares
No one escapes.
Why adults are
Silencing children
With their voice of truth
For the choices needed?
Hiding behind
Petro-dollars bought
And paid for
Politicians and legal system.
As we watch
The nightly news
Countries burn away
Before our eyes.
Can’t stop
It’s our extinction
We’re driviing to.
Like frogs
In a pot
Of boiling water.
Therisa © 2020

Author’s note: A poetic tempo experiment. And yes, I had the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Can’t Stop, as an earwig, while writing this.
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Tuesday, 18 February 2020

The Crater (November 3, 2015)

Sorry
I offend you
In my attempt
Uniting body and soul
As one.
Seeking
An inner truth
Denied to those
Who are born
In the wrong body.
Travelling through
Various minefields
And battlegrounds
You’ve strewed
Around us.
In your fears
And ignorance
Of what
You don’t understand.
Leaving behind
Too many people
Abandoned 
In pain.
Struggling
To crawl out
This toxic landscape
Into the warmth
Of the light.
Without leaving behind
Another stat
To be mourned
On November 20th
Day of Transgender Remembrance.
Therisa © 2015 and 2020   

Author’s note: I had forgotten that I had written this, almost 4 1/2 years ago. Looking back, I was so naive, in my thinking that things couldn’t get worse, for the transcommunity, but it has. Just hope that Trump isn’t elected for another 4 year term, as President of the United States.
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Tuesday, 4 February 2020

No Turning Back (February 1, 2020)



Go ahead
Walk away
From me.
Abandoned
In my time
Of need.
Starting
My biggest journey
Without you.
Freeing myself
From the hate
You call love.
Wiping away
Tears of shame
I've held close.
Displaying the bruises
You left behind
On me.
Won't come back
Blaming myself
For your violence.
Oh no
Those days
Are long gone.
For I'm a survivor
Who has escaped
Hell's Inferno.
As your hooks
Bounce off
My heart.
Discarded rubble
Grounded into dust
Under my heels.
Walking away
Living my life
In peace.
Therisa © 2020  
Author’s note: Alas, the editing was, the easiest part of writing this very personal
poem, as I’m a survivor of long term abuse, from several family members. Who, I have cut off all contact with my last abuser, November 2015. The mental and emotional pain wasn't justified, in spending time with them.

Written for Earthweal’s weekly prompt: Renewal.
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Just Like A Prayer (January 30, 2020)

Chaos
Inner journey
Of self-enlightenment.
Order
Knowledge
And wisdom restored.
True healing
Accepting
One's limitations.
Building foundations
Holistically strong
Weathering life's storms.
Unburdening
The darkness
That once owned you.
Regardless
What others think
As the Holy Truth.
Through lens
Warping reality
To their beliefs.
As you shine
With love and honour
For all - to see.
Therisa © 2020  
Author’s note: Took 45 minutes to write and 3 days to edit, properly. Sheesh.

Written for Earthweal’s weekly prompt: Renewal.
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Tuesday, 21 January 2020

Keeping The Dream Alive (January 21, 2020)



My eyes turn southwards
To the United States
As the tears flow
Upon learning
The latest news
Of a sister's death.

Forcing my anger down
Knowing another hate crime
Won't be solved
By the local police.

As I wonder
Why African-Americans
Aren't crying out
At the injustice done
To their Trans sisters. 

Given Black Lives Matter
Vocal protests
Against "white society" treatment
Of the "black minority."

Was the 1968 death
Of Rev Martin Luther King Jr
In Memphis, Tennessee
The death knell
For the African-American
Civil Rights Movement?

Turning inwards
In mourning
Over the rising
Vietnam War death toll
And other societal injustices.

Turning aside
Rev King's message
Of love and hope
Into apathy and despair.

Shamefully
The LGBTQ+ community
Hasn't done any better
Supporting trans African-Americans
Or acknowledging this crisis.

Often
Transcommunity is thrown 
Under the bus
Greasing the wheels of progress 
Advancing Gay/Lesbian rights.

Sparking the formation
And first observation
Day of Transgender Remembrance 
In November 20, 1999.

Crossing racial lines
In Boston, Massachusetts
And San Francisco, California
Honouring Rita Hester's life.

Bearing fruit
To Rev King's 1963 speech
That his "dream" is possible
And still alive. 

Therisa © 2020   

Author’s note: I started writing this poem, in anger, given the growing problem for my African-American transsisters. As the poem progressed, I found myself, in a place where dreams are, the fragile thing that makes hope, come alive.

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A River Standing Still (January 20, 2020)

Oppression is
A river dammed
Who's water
Seek freedom.
Too long
We have accepted
America's Apartheid
As the norm.
Based on
Economic religious
And political dogma
Encouraging intolerance
And ignorance.
On August 28, 1963
One of the last century's
Greatest speech for freedom
Struck a blow
Against this state.
As Rev Martin Luther King Jr
Delivered "I Have A Dream" speech
Before the Lincoln Memorial
During the "March on Washington
For Jobs and Freedom."
All people benefit
And not
Just a select few.
Want to say
Rev King's words
Destroyed this
Repression.
Unleashing 
A tsunami of liberties
Displacing this brackish waters
That America drowns in.
Sadly
Breaches been repaired
Building ever higher.
Entrapping
Even greater population
Seeking the "promised land"
Rev King spoke of.
Finding a blighted
Drought stricken land
Instead.
As Americans
Celebrate Martin Luther King Day
On January 20, 2020.
Therisa © 2020   

Author’s note: Written for Earthweal’s weekly prompt: Water.
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Ghost Of 3 Mile Island (January 19, 2020)

On Sunday
January 12, 2020
As I awoke
An email account explodes.
Updates flash
Fast and furious
An unspecified nuclear incident
At Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.
As the crow flies
Distance of 20 km
From my apartment
To the reactors.
First thought
WTF....
Mental cobwebs
Slowly clear away
Leaving me
Stunned and anxious.
Two hours later
From first
To last update.
Whatever emergency
Had happened
It was too late
For panicking.
Grimly
Searching news sites
For clues.
Is this Canada's version
Of 3 Mile Island
In the 40+ year old
CANDU reactors?
This March
Marks 41 years
Partial core meltdown 
Of the American nuclear site.
(CANDU reactors
Use heavy water [D2O]
And unenriched uranium.
(All US commercial models
Use enriched uranium
And light water {H2O}.)
Unlike 3 Mile Island
Pickering was human error
Transmitting internal message
Externally province-wide
During one of two
Daily tests.
Ontario seeks
Maximized profits
From aging reactors
At lifecycle's end.
What point
Is public safety worth
A few billion dollars
To the health concerns
For its citizens.
As Ontario's Solicitor General 
Promises a full investigation
Into Pickering.
Never mind
Premier Ford's government
Has scrapped multiple contracts
Totalling almost $300 million (Cdn)
For wind-power generated electricity
Since June 2018.
As Ontario has
No concrete future plans
Beyond those drawn
On the back of a napkin.
Requiring years
Of research and approvals
Before the political photo op
For the groundbreaking
To whatever replaces
Pickering's reactors.
Therisa © 2020   
Author’s note: Some background information links:


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