In response to my comment
she gives me a look
like I am covered with manure
and am suggesting she join me
wallowing in a pig pen.
Nose flared, forehead creased,
like she has scented
something foul, she raises a brow
and turns away with a scowl,
still here in body, but not in spirit,
while her friends chatter and giggle
pleasantly with me.
On the side of the highway:
a body of thick fur and flat leathery tail.
Why did the beaver cross the road?
I guess we’ll never know.
When people are oppressed
it is the citizens’ duty to rise!
When rights are taken from one group
it is the citizens’ duty to rise!
When a government’s actions are illegal
it is the citizens’ duty to rise!
When faced with injustice
it is the citizens’ duty to rise!
For when one group is oppressed
You will be next.
When rights are taken from one group
You will be next.
When government acts illegally against one group
You will be next.
When faced with injustice you must fight or
You will be next!
Äiti was crying when I left
hugging me close and weeping.
“Äiti?”
“Et unohta” she whispered.
Don’t forget.
“Muistat sinun Suomen kielesta,
en osaa puhua englanti!” she sniffed.
You have to remember your Finnish!
I can’t speak English!
“Minä muistan, Äiti.”
I will remember.
Years dripped by
on memories and melancholy
but still
Muistan, Äiti.
Yup.
New Rule:
Regardless of how many journalists do, you’re not allowed to call the B.C.T.F. “one of B.C.’s most militant unions” anymore.
It’s a ridiculous thing to say.
If a militant union, let’s say the Longshoremen’s Union , was offered zero percent for six years of the last twelve, and in seventy six consecutive “negotiating “ sessions, their employers demanded, at the table and through the media, that they accept zero percent and then accused the union of refusing to bargain, we would see a “militant” union in action.
Now imagine that over twelve years, the Longshoremen’s employer had been repeatedly censured for bargaining in bad faith, by the United Nations, (10 times), the Supreme Court of Canada, (2005) and the Supreme Court of B.C. (twice) Imagine too that the employer blithely ignored every ruling.
The Longshoremen wouldn’t still be “ bargaining”.The docks would close until the outrage was fixed…
View original post 295 more words
Today
I watched your smile
twinkling on the seas
I heard your laughter
rustling in the trees
I heard your voice whisper
0n the evening breeze
I saw your image
dancing in the leaves
I felt you everywhere
gifting me with memories
comforting me with peace.
if his eyes
had not captured yours
held them tightly
until you flushed from toes
to hair tips
unable to break free from his gaze
then you would
would not be here now
mesmerized
wishing for the moon.
There is an explosion of me
that while not cause for misery
does lend itself to some worry
(as health dictates less mass, you see).
While pondering this desperate state
in search of cover, you apparate
into my view and tell me straight
the simple way you’d lost your weight.
The fact that you think that I was there
to inspire you is laughable, I swear.
You wish to write and I’m aware
that you will do so, we’re a pair
The universe conspires to bring
Strangers together to the thing
that makes the possibilities ring
Opens universal everything.
Shawn L. Bird 