dear prime minister,
if you don't step down
i will provide you with a stool
perhaps you are too small of a man
and require assistance with the big step
i know it's hard to be a big boy
but everyone has to grow up sometime
there are lots of people to help you
except the ones whose jobs you cut
take a taxi, then maybe you could get some therapy or health care
go back to university...oh sorry you probably can't afford it
i know, wait......join the speech circuit and talk about how you made turtle island a better place
tell them how you made our country an arms dealer for israel
tell them how you spoke about maternal health at the UN to an empty room while at home people are screaming about the countless lost and murdered indigenous women in our country....
tell them how you make secret backroom deals with other countries that threaten our water supply and sovereignty..

step up, mr. harper, cause i can tell you with complete certainty...

karma is a bitch....

oh the night,
the beautiful glamorous night
give to me your secrets
and i will tell you mine
whisper in my ear
all that is ugly
and let us make a cocoon
for the butterfly

9-11

did someone call 911?
metaphor for security
wrapped in safety
while thousands upon thousands upon thousands
remember those numbers
in another way
mission accomplished
agenda completed
sorties have landed
soldiers home safe

except for the trauma
hiding behind red rimmed, shallow eyes
except for the veil of truth
shattered by corpses and those
who won't stop wailing
(make them stop)

safe
except for the rally cries
of the allies
as they sail on to
their next victory

home
cicadas and 
red wine
mind full of memories, ideas and thoughts
heart full of love, questions and dreams
soul full of desire, envy and determination
home
home for weary feet and tired eyes
home for transitions and shortcuts
and longcuts 
and anything in between
home
home

my mom pulls me up the gravel drive
in a wounded red wagon
its wheels churning slowly
under a hot sun

dinner is burning
i can smell the rank odor
and i get nervous

a burning dinner is never a good thing
see, for me, it usually means death

it means another nanny or papa or
tante or uncle
habibti, daughter or son
has been killed

it means my psyche
still fresh with wound
takes another blow

it means that only time
can measure my restraint

it means that i lay down at your feet
and let you walk all over me
if you will

and it means i rise again

on my way to the fine east coast
music, dancing, ocean and feasts
laughter and love, family and treats
healthy children by my side
strong, educated, funny and cute
not oblivious but sheltered
from the horrors of the world
we will swim at the beach
swim as far as we dare
no bombs will land on this beach
no snipers will shoot if we swim too far
no child will see his best friend blown to bits
as he stands there, helpless
bloody in the night
no mother will wail in the night
as the sirens drown out her sorrow

when we come home
our house will be neat and orderly
not a pile of rubble where kids have to play
our schools will be cleaned by unionized custodians
waiting for the happy screams of schoolchildren
not temples to the innocents
our families will be in front of the tv
watching the bombs drop
'such a shame', one will say
'it's complicated', says another
and then they'll click the channel
click
click
click
and the sun will rise on the children of Gaza
again

you can sink a ship
you can drown my baby
you can poke my boy's eyes out 
with a wooden stick
but you can never
NEVER
wound the heart of a wounded soul
you can never 
NEVER come close to me
with your guns, and bombs, and gas
even when they tear my family to pieces
I am a woman who stands tall 
although I feel small
I am a woman who holds hands with my sisters
I am a woman who will look you in the eye
and point your silly gun away from me
I am a woman who will demand that you ask your mother
if what you think is true
I am a woman who will stand between you 
and my child
I am a woman who will forgive you when you put your weapons down
as we bow our heads together
I am a woman who will build a fire, tend to it
and cook dinner for us all
I am a woman who will dance until joy sings
I am a woman who will demand the end of insanity
and the beginning of truth
i am a woman
whose tears
nourish the earth