I’ve recently been informed
That I’m a shadow of another’s success
That I’m a back page community blurb
To front page coverage
That I’m seven strikes
To the Midas touch
Poetry
#PoetryTues #Poem Requiem 2118: In Remembrance of Gender 1/9/18
Requiem 2118: In Remembrance of Gender
We once hurled binary at ourselves so hard it adhered
Lashed he/she to our souls and to each other
Based strictly on our parts
Even as the relevance slipped away
We taught that male and female were separate
Hearth keeper or hunter— you were what your parts dictated
When someone claimed both (or neither) we grew afraid
And tried to smother them beneath stereotypes
Now binary has unfurled into a spectrum
We’ve decoded, evolved beyond our birth parts
And spread our wings atop our old labels
Killing limitation with our beautifully-balanced flight
#PoetTues #Poem Exothoughts on Gender 10/17/17
#PoetTues #Poem Equal Understanding 10/10/17
Equal Understanding (A Speculative Poem)
Haedra rubs his belly filled with life
While Vedren rubs his swollen feet
Remembering her turn
And glad it’s now his
Photo by jens johnsson on Unsplash
A Lesson in Unprofessional Behavior: Weathering the Publication of “Monstering 101”
My poem “Monstering 101” is now available at the online literary mag Monstering. It’s linked to the site’s categories Ableism and Body Horror. Think about that for a minute then consider Monstering’s masthead: Disabled Women and Nonbinary People Celebrating Monsterhood.
Publishing this poem has been a process, and not one I necessarily care to repeat. Some people’s version of professional behavior and mine are far different. Excuses ran thin, and I seriously considered pulling the work because of it, but, in the end, I created the poem in response to Monstering’s call for submissions, so that is where it should stay.
#PoetTues #Poem “A Pansexual’s Response to Negation” 9/5/17
We can’t love he then she?
Then, perhaps, both in one?
Or the nonbinary?
Who says?
Where is this rule written?
In some fool’s walled-off brain?
In some researcher’s skewed case study?
In an obsolete text intent on control?
Were we pans even consulted?
The answer doesn’t matter
Love, as they say, is love
Opinions, studies, and texts have no bearing
The heart must decide for itself
Blood Run (A Stilted Marathon) #PoetTues 8/8
Mayberry Metaphors #PoetTues 7/25
Mayberry Metaphors
My father speaks in Mayberry metaphors
Quotes from earlier days
“The secret is oregano.”
“Nip it in the bud!”
All crises solved
In thirty minutes
And two commercial breaks
Jaded Catharsis #PoetTues 7/18
Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash
Jaded Catharsis
I was told
Again and again
That my illness
Was in my head
– A delusion for attention
Basket case
Conversion Syndrome
You’re a lost cause
Now go away
– But I wouldn’t listen
Today, I heard different
A new doc listened
Saw my puzzle
And did tests
– That repeated my words
This, I appreciate
But now I worry
Neurovascular
A time bomb of physician neglect
– Even this doctor is mad
What they overlooked
Cannot be undone
It’s permanent
I’m impaired
– But I’m certainly not dead
Dear Former Doctors,
When you stopped listening
You stopped seeing me
I’m no easy answer
So you threw me away
-May you reap what you’ve so tragically sown
A Longstanding Lie #PoetTues 7/11
(This is a revision of a Sci-Fi poem I wrote in 2002)
I’m not generally this pessimistic, but given the current events in the U.S. it seems fitting.
A Longstanding Lie
