tell me when the line your seeing becomes clearer.

If I see another trans girl on 6 Mile and Woodward

flagging down cars in the cold to exhaustion trying to one:

be vulnerable and 2: needing to squeeze a 10

with their faux Louboutin sling slung over their shoulders

into their stretch jeans with one acrylic nail missing

from a hand half frozen in song and suppressed versification,

I don't know what to do. In building doorways where the

final snowy world awaits outside like the ghost stories

of their own avowal swirling around the final

eukaryotic nose bleed they confront when the glass

of the used car lot reflects back the dialect of resembling.

"i'm a girl' one blurts out as some solemn affirmation

like Vin Skully calling a Kirk Gibson homer and hips, made of

construction grade proteinase juts out from beneath a sea

of "getthatmoneygirl" monologue from lips as red as a 

CVS circular . It's snowing and tonight the weatherman

cautions to bring your pets inside because pets feel

the cold too. 

Reviews

[redzone]

funny thing about "lines", they need to be crossed and in most cases, not only crossed, but stepped on mutilated and erased out of existence.... and further, I think it is our right and responsibility as poets to do all the above and more.... to challenge old traditions and cast them aside....

Dana, in this I think you are a true poet and I for one am grateful..... your poem is refreshing and more than welcomed on the scene....thank you!!!

[h d e rushin]

"the purpose of poetry in the 21st century". It is mostly metempirical or lying beyond the bounds of experience. And it can be, without prejudice and intuitive as it is transcendental. It is a phenomena that in most cases, needs and desires a crossing, a crossing out; a strategy that defends the "erasing out of existence" you speak of. I tell every young poet I speak to...."when you cross this line, there is no turning back. "If it's on, then it's on".....thanks for your kind remarks my friend....dana

[Beccy]

The blurring of the lines is to be celebrated; but 'tis a shame, given we are all God's children, that such a blurring even needs to be given house room, let alone take center stage; as of late, it increasingly seems to be doing.

As for the world becoming unprincipled; I think it has been unprincipled from the moment cave dweller on the left stepped out into the morning sun, then looked over at cave dweller on the right and though, 'mmhh, they have a much nicer cave than me, I think I'll go in for a steal.' :))

Beccy. X

[h d e rushin]

you're right, of course. Australopithecus grew rapidly after birth and reached adulthood faster than modern humans in all aspects of socialization. When they grew older and full of resentment, they fought and scratched at the joints of those around them who were 'stronger' and could gather larger branches. We drove from Jesus Christ to the Christian Right in just 20 centuries and along the way decided to remove from our favor, once again, those who could not gather like all the others. The first word a child learns is "mama". And between daylight and dawn it is the only word you can say without resistance. We have to start walking in joy again and not resentment of anyone. Thank you so much my friend....your heart is so pure......dana

[emmajoy]

Rich, raw life and all i'll never know but need too..

' .. their faux Louboutin sling slung over their shoulders ~ into their stretch jeans with one acrylic nail missing ~ from a hand half frozen in song and suppressed versification,~ I don't know what to do. In building doorways where the ~ final snowy world awaits outside like the ghost stories ~ of their own avowal swirling around the final ~ eukaryotic nose bleed .. '

How many quotes does a human have to yell before listeners turn away in disgust or, step closer wondering what the hell is he or she fired up about! People have always been what they are or have wanted to be, just as many have killed themselves because society has hidden its difference away, guilty til found innocent yet. anything but. Thing is: we have theatre and movies, we have social media and people watch it, buy it and sail on by. Nothing or nobody stands out to be battered any more.. The sun shines, people warm toes; the moon glows, and the stars bow down before it.. so... should Mankind learn a lesson, ' Do unto others..

[h d e rushin]

Poets are the last endogenous spirits dearest emma..Everything that happens , happens from within; the energy and all it's forms. Thank you my love for your kind remarks...dana

[Relic]

That gritty side of life is like a dirty rug that keeps rolling out from one generation to the next. It just changes colors and sometimes needs cleaning. The more that things change the more they stay the same I guess.

[h d e rushin]

yes, that fact that there will always be the poor among us/ whether self induced or otherwise, it never makes us stronger 'generationally" if we remove the color of their inclusion. The earth is big enough for all of us....thanks relic...dana

[Robert Trakofler]

Having a store and vegan restaurant that sells vintage clothing and estate jewelry retro antiques and theatre props you can Imagine I attract many transgender folks and above the entrance, I have a sign that reads "Abandon hope all ye haters who enter here" I truly do embrace that sign to my core but at times even I get a bit annoyed when authenticity is questionable my bathroom doors bear no signs but bathroom perhaps I should change it to human:) click click you penning always make a little click at the end Dana

[h d e rushin]

i would love to visit your vintage shop Robert. Here in Detroit I have a favorite, "The Thrift Shop" it is called and it draws all kinds, all races and income types...Because any 'good deal' is the deal of a lifetime. thanks my friend....I've been occupied lately....had my covid shot because i'm also a cancer patient.. And to be honest, I don't know how it made me feel . Only that in a split second my head hurts, then I get chills....which, i've been told, is a sign that it's working....great thoughts.....dana

[Corset]

I have a bad habit of calling girls and guys "you guys wanna" if there is a group of more than one it is all inclusive as say "do ya'll" in Texas. It can get me in trouble if that habit slips up as once did when inviting a he and a She tendered into gender a few years back. "are you guys gonna come? I asked, the lady of question whispered a gruff warning so softly "careful" she said...bad habit badbad habit, and I softly smiled at her and said, do you think you can make it also miss yada yada...her feathers smoothed out a bit but I could tell I was far from forgiven.

[h d e rushin]

I go to a bar where there is only one bathroom. No "men's or women's comfort tag above the doors. So first, if you just cant hold it, you/we need a sort of therapy (like poetry) that allows us the benefit of antecedent to realize a world that happens (or can happen) as the non-logic of which something entirely opposite is based. But if I remove the pronoun the thing that pees becomes a person of both cause and precedent. Yet, I have never met a trans woman who didn't at least twice a day contemplate suicide or thought that everyone wasn't looking down their throats. This hypersensitivity sucks all the oxygen out of the room. And although gender-correctness is so contrary and inimical to human speech, you just cant go through life tip-toeing thru someone else's consciousness, especially when you want to throw a brick through the front window of their Ford Fusion. I have, like you my love, far too many bad habits to start listing.....lol.....love dana

[Emily B]

This topic keeps circling. And I keep fighting but I'm not sure I'm gaining any ground. What to do?

[h d e rushin]

give in to God. People are a pseudonym for getting lost. Fight is a good thing. Even a wooden sliver under your fingernail creates an immune response from your entire bodily system. thank you my love. Everything I know about poetry, you taught me....Never forget that!

[Emily B]

I came here with a handful of little poems a hundred years ago. I learned everything I know from poets just like you

[Paul Bell]

Don't know what's happening in Detroit, but in Britain. Boy and Girl have gone, erased, no longer used, banned. You are now part of the LGBTQRSTWXYZ, or just a person of no interest, unless the Police want to speak to you. Okay, just check on snow. Make sure you can still call it cold. At the moment that seems to be alright.

[h d e rushin]

No. not at all. In Detroit boy and girl still exist and to that, no one objects. But to misgender or call someone the improper pronoun is usually viewed as offensive. Yet conversely, "boy and girl" as the nonanalytic, scientific testament to a more inclusive definable precept is political. and we all know where politics have gotten us.. And thanks for your insight. dana

[Paul Bell]

Yeah things seem a bit quiet in America just now. Is Trump on garden leave, or just hiding.

[Coyote Poetry]

Amazing twist of words and thought my dear friend. The wintry days make us see the world with different eyes. Thank you for sharing the amazing poetry and your thoughts.
Coyote

[h d e rushin]

thank you my friend and stay safe..the world has become unprincipled

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree my dear friend and you are welcome.

[Delmar Cooper]

Tell me when "Your" became interchangeable with "You're." This from a poet who makes free to torment a reader with Google worthy words like, " Louboutin", "eukaryotic", and " proteinase". You, in your intimate sympathy, redeem the human race by your last, ASPCA worthy line," Bless us Oh Lord for we are all your pets."

[h d e rushin]

haha! Ironically I just mailed my February mortgage payment to Mr. Cooper for a house that sits in the 48207 zip code and what FBI statistics say is the most violent, crime infested zip code in the most violent city in America. I don't remember even seeing a police car drive down my street anytime in the last 5 years or since the bailiffs needed some backup to evict the squatters who had taken up residence next door. So if my misuse of the contraction or my un-use of a possessive adjective is my only crime.....then as Isaac Hayes would say, "I stand accused". thank you dearest Delmar for your remarks my friend.

[Delmar Cooper]

Sorry. I had no idea. Please accept my apology.