When a friend gives you music...

has a friend ever given you music

introduced you to new songs

and you've enjoyed it so much it

caused pause

those throngs like tem-po-ed heartbeats

plucked tendons in your arms

compelled to move by new charms

this is not so much a poem

more an observation

the effects of music shared

and my obvious elation

(Damn it, friend, I want to work, and I've been dancing to this stuff all morning.)

-o0o-

To know me...

You know it's not that hard,
to know me.

It's free.
It's easy.
I'm right here in black and white.
I'm printed right in front of you.
I'm open for the eye to see.
It's easy.
It's free.
And still people 'discover' me harshly.
As if they didn't notice me taking up space.

It's not that hard,
to know me.

Pick up and read,
Get to know me.
It's that simple.
All me, condensed into words.
Bite-sized-me for easy consumption.
I'm not an epic story.
I'm not a sweeping drama.
I'm not an opaque mystery.
I'm just a few poems.
A handful of verses.
Descriptors of a broken soul laid bare.
An invitation to sit down and see,
It's easy.
It's free.

It's not that hard,
to know me.

-o0o-

Invoke the Dead

on behalf of transgender people who have died

your bloody hand
that piled the sand
upon the corpses
as you planned
your guilt absolved
of every tear
shed by the folk
that you have damned

invoke the dead
our daily bread
pureed, processed
and then forcefed
back to us
who mourned and cried
and walk the line
of them who died

-o0o-

Why I'm Grateful for Caitlyn

I'm grateful for Caitlyn
because she set your hatred on fire
so now I can see you
you up in smoke like burnt out pyre
pointed out as if by angel's choir
I can see you

Oh, but you can deadname
dishing out lies
advertising your bigotry
as if stabbing at the truth will make it anything less than
and you wallowing in your own bullshit
as if to douse the light
hide from our eyes
and all you've done is draw flies

Because of Caitlyn's light
I know now that I can't trust you
I know now that you're not my friend
you've stayed hidden all this time
complaining about how 'P.C.' you have to be
that you can only be yourself when nobody is looking
but transphobia is a free-for-all, is it?
hatred and bigotry of this kind something cheap to come by?
and you've appointed yourself gatekeeper

Well I see you now
and you're not fooling anybody with your doubletalk
your derailing
your deflecting

Caitlyn came along and lit you up
and I'm grateful for that
because it also showed me
how to get you out of my life
wipe your shit off my floor
and kick you out the door

-o0o-

hatred tonight

you could snap the air in two, that fragile film tonight
like water frozen, on every heart, thin as ice
as hatred was poured into the very world
the bigots infesting everything like mice
you could try to stand up and fight
but you'd have to think twice
knowing what it might cost you
taking on that same ignorant vice
it pours from hateful mouths
it bites stone cold, sharp jaws
that comes from the fool and bigot
flexing proud with its fisted claws
with hard hearted hounds hunting
to crush us under heavy paws
and sigh away our freedoms
with cruel and hateful laws
the lithesome, sleek 'splainers
come to set the stage
circling like vultures
to feed of our rage
a cold insult to us
weight to our age
another screw
another page
damage done
blood let
heart broken
bones set
carry on
still, yet
i will not die
a costly bet

-o0o-