Soooo about that arrest last fall

This is the statement that I wrote up for the 7 of us protesters that were arrested last Oct. for Occupy Mpls. It is a little silly because I quote myself, but give me a break. I'm the only person I can contact at this hour. Okay? I'm not exactly looking forward to court, but hey, it's just another soap box, really. Might as well use it. Here goes:

Call for support of Occupy Mpls activists as US Bank 7 go to trial.

The first group of occupy protesters to be arrested locally will be going to court this week, starting Monday June 4^th at 9am at the Hennepin County Government Center (also known as the building attached to the people’s plaza).  The 7 activists were arrested at a demonstration outside of the US Bank branch in downtown Minneapolis last fall, where they were protesting foreclosures and homelessness. US Bank foreclosed on 25,000 homes in Minnesota alone in 2010, forcing families into the streets. On October 20^th 2011, 100+ protesters occupied the intersection of 2^nd Ave and 6^th St in front of the bank where several of them pitched tents and occupied them, demanding that housing is a human right. They are now facing criminal charges of obstruction of traffic.

Anti War Committee member Misty Rowan, who is one of the defendants, had this to say about the coming trial “It’s unfortunate that we live in a society that treats protesters like criminals for speaking out and calling attention to such practices, when the real criminals are the big banks that are forcing people out of their homes after being bailed out with our tax dollars. But it doesn’t matter. You cannot evict an idea whose time has come.”

Supporters are asked to fill the courtroom on Monday June 4^th to show solidarity, and to call the prosecutor and demand that he drop the charges against the US Bank 7

Housing is a human right!

I am removing the prosecutors number because, as amusing as it is to bother him, calling him wont do much good. The pressure is coming from higher up (all the way up). If this is how Occupiers are going to be treated in this city, then we need to build a real campaign against unnecessarily heavy charges, and police misuse and misconduct, for those recently arrested at Occupy Homes actions, and for all of us moving forward. The rights to free speech and assembly are under attack in this country at every level, and taking this to trial is just one more way to put your foot down (my foot) and take a stand. It takes challenging the law to change it, and we need to push back against the police state that has taken hold. This battle isn't over. It has only just begun.

When I write a poem

OK, have we gotten that out of our system?

I wanted to share the recently rejected poem that I sent to Poetry magazine (mostly to see what a rejection letter from them looked like). I didn't expect them to print it, but now that they wont I can. It is a little something. That's all.

When I write a poem

When I write a poem I picture myself stringing

words together like they are yarn.

I am knitting hats and scarves and on

ambitious nights of self I make sweaters with patterns.

They're cute.

They're getting better.

But when I read one of your poems

I imagine that you've carved them out of clay,

sculpted them carefully with no crevasse or

point of interest unplanned,

no punctuation mark a mistake,

no syllable unaccounted for.

Your creation stands as it was meant to stand.

Is it possible that there's an art inside an art?

That your voice or style might be characterized

by another genre altogether?

Fired in an oven,

shrunken in the wash

and walla!

The finished product.

Signed and dated.

And once you've created enough of them

to call it a life's work they'll say that you made it

when I was just sitting at home having fun with patterns.

(dedicated to Sharon Olds, one of my favorite poets)

BLOG DRAMA

Ok, to explain the last post so that we can move on:
Recently, I noticed a large amount of traffic to my blog coming from a certain site and when I clicked on the link I found some nasty republican blogger was bashing me on his dumb blog. Apparently, the whole purpose of this blog is to go off on things he finds and doesn’t like on the website Democratic Underground, and he had seen a video of one of my poems and hated it so much that he decided to go off about it pretty viciously, including alternate, crappy lyrics and accusations that I must be all that is wrong with this country. This prick went so far as to pull my bio (corner, right) and take a few pot shots at me, personally- calling me a wing bat and a pothead, because I voted for Cynthia McKinney (and other such liberal flights of fancy).

 I was, of course, shocked and upset to discover this. My heart was beating in my ears like war drums as I read the comment thread (which is never a good idea, but especially here, considering this person’s obviously fowl readership). Besides the easy cracks about my having no talent, or being a spoiled brat with a trust fund (HA!) the cuts went so low as to complain that I had frizzy hair in the video and rectangular glasses (oh yeah, I did that just to piss you off). I left a few sharp replies of my own and posted that last entry on my blog for any persons reading his post and following the link. (Note: I am not going to mention his stupid blog’s, stupid name here. I wouldn’t want to do him any favors). I mean, really, fuck off.

 My friend suggested that the bright side of this was that at least my message was getting out there. That even people who vehemently dislike what I have to say are talking about it. And I guess she’s right. But it’s about as backhanded as a compliment can get. In reality, it’s a petty, hateful thing to do. How about if you don’t like it, don’t watch it. You don’t have to go out of your way to ridicule and slander me just so you and your asshole friends can reaffirm your own closed minded and warped worldviews. It’s got the seedy feel of having someone hack into your email address and send out weird spamy links in your name for Free Trails of Viagra!, and money orders from some prince in Africa and the like. You know there are some dangers to “putting your self out there” on the internet and sometimes-this is what you get.

 So, accepting that people will think and say what they like, and that some people will never agree with you, or even try to see things eye to eye, what I am left with is this: my own blog. My own opinion, for what it is worth, and for those who care to read it. So, I’ll just leave my response to it all here and be done with it. K?

1. For the record: yes, I do think your poetry sucks balls. I also think the rest of your prose sucks, so at least you are being consistent. I take solace in the fact that assholes like you rarely make it off the couch, which leaves the real world (which I operate in) a much nicer place to be.

2. To the asshole in the comments who goes by Anonymous –who fucking cares what you think? You say you are a professional writer but you wont own up to your own words in a comment thread? What a loser you must be! Why should anyone care what you have to say? At least I stand for something, and I back up what I say. I mean every word I use (even the ones you can’t understand cause I’m going too fast). And what I think is we don’t need anymore asshole commentators on the sidelines, thank you. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that if you don’t have anything nice to say, maybe you should just shut the fuck up?

3. Oh yeah, and to everyone that doesn’t like it when I swear: why don’t you eat a dick. I know that makes you uncomfortable (that’s why I said it). I am sick of people saying whatever nasty, hurtful things they want and then balking at my response because I use “adult language”. I am an adult. And I don’t see any difference. If you can’t handle a little four letter word, don’t throw stones motherfucker!


In truth, I was going for a strong reaction. If someone were to disagree with me in the first place, that reaction would be a fairly negative one. And for so much nastiness to be hurled my way from one nobody’s blog is, I guess, to say I got what I wanted. It is easy to remind myself that lots of people with worldviews closer to my own also saw this video, and also had a reaction. Hopefully, a positive one. Hopefully, it balances out. I would like to think we are tipping the scale. That is the real work of spreading ideas. It’s not simply convincing others to agree with you, it’s about encouraging an open mind, so people can decide for themselves.


But, seriously. Nobody likes a hater.

.

to the asshole who posted my poetry on his dumb blog

Write your own material, you hack. Nobody likes a hater. Haters don't even like haters. That's how bad they suck. But, thanks for the traffic.

The huff and puff and I must be out of breath by now

Okay, so I haven't really been the best, most diligent blogger. I just realized that if I really want this to be my online keepings of poetries I should probably include the links to videos of me performing all this stuff, right?

Well, I just found a bunch of such links (most of them are of the same poem) and I guess I'm not going to put them all here right now, but I have to do at least a few.  These are all clips of the poem "The Huff and Puff of my Frustration" So, if it seems like I am repeating myself, I am.

First, the most recent from last weekend at the ReOccupy Mpls rally (before the police brutality that night). I screw up twice, but I love the back drop of the world in this video.  

and then, the same poem from August of last year (before Occupy had entered our collective vernacular!)

And one more time, all out of order, is the performance at the benefit concert for the Committee to Stop FBI Repression Feb 18th 2012. This one is dear to me because it was for my favorite good cause (our own asses!) and also I nailed it. (audio warning: this one starts mid-clapping and it's really loud)

Thank you to my friends for filming these.
Ok, I'm ganna really write some new material now!~

A Million Hoodies March

Trayvon didn't die in vain.
Just yesterday I didn't even know his name.
But today we have opened up a new discussion about race
and with a little understanding the whole culture can change.
Justice for Trayvon.

"I'm having Issues"

"I’m having Issues.”

I wanted to start by saying something that celebrates women. 
All to often, it’s a kind of bad news to be one, 
the lie that we live in that we all have the same freedoms.

It’s enough just to look at the worldview to know 
that however far we have come on this issue  
there’s still a long way to go.

So, to celebrate women, first you must find them, 
(they're usually behind the scenes). 

The marginalized, often despised strong women of the world, 
making history and babies and poetry happen since time began.

You know that expression, “He’s a self-made man.”?

There is no corresponding phrase for women, because ALL women 
are self-made women.

Any woman who survived her childhood and managed to escape 
the kitchen is a self-made woman, there is no need to make the distinction. 

In fact, if a woman isn’t making it on her own, 
she is considered “taken care of”.

It’s a strange thing to love being female in the face of such 
blatant hatred towards us.

Now, I say hatred so as not to be confused, I’m not  
just a little bit upset about a few slanderous remarks from some fat talking heads, or the comments from Republican representatives that’ll make your stomach clench up and your hands coil into fists-

I am talking about the sheer amount of rapists, and murderers, and predators that exist in this sick society that we live in. 

Because Patriarchy is a vicious system, full of wage gaps and rape victims.

And I’m watching as they attack the hard earned rights of women in this country, and those gains, my friends, are not going to be let go of quietly.

I, for one, think they should be fought for and protected.

But then, I guess that makes me a militant feminist- so go ahead-

call me all your names. 
You know, I don’t even flinch at name calling anymore.

Doesn’t mean I want to debate this shit with every meat-head I meet, either.

Can you believe that some days I just get sick of hearing it altogether?

You know what else I’m sick of hearing? You throw like a girl.

“Oh, you throw like a girl.” you throw like a girl.

Damn it, I am a girl! So why should I aspire to throw any other way?

Like you think it’s so great that you got all the upper body strength.

Man, I have the strength of connectedness. 

I am the Earth and its consciousness and yes, I throw like a girl.

I’m better at a lot of things and I think that the point is that

Equality isn’t about treating everyone the same cause 
we’re all the same, ok?

It’s about treating everyone with respect 
because we’re all different.

That there are strengths and weaknesses in each of us.

And that we may learn from each other’s experiences.

Cause me? Man, I’m all about the win-win.

I’m all about the putting time into the collective, because together we are greater than

And men- if you can’t see that "Women’s Issues" are of your concern too

then I’m afraid we’re all screwed!

So, it should bother you when Republicans try to throw us under the bus.

It should bother you that they want us all bare foot and pregnant.

And ladies and gentlemen, if you think you’ve had enough yet, it’s time to tell them.

This isn’t about contraception. It’s about adequate healthcare and education in the first place. It’s about getting paid 80 cents on the dollar still, and being told to cough it up for daycare- I mean, they got us coming and going, don’t they?

They got us squabbling about it on Election Day, 

and I’m telling you-

don’t be fooled. 

They will divide us any way that they can

because when we come together- we are greater than.

And women: 

The calamities of the world are Women’s Issues.

This ten-year war on terror is affecting women too. 
The holes in the Ozone layer and the prison systems and the lunches that they’re feeding to the kids in the schools- is our issue.

And, frankly, we’ve got a lot of work to do.

To find peace (and I mean for everyone).

To protect and replace the social safety net that  
we put there, and for a good reason.

To stamp out greed, and hatred, and corruption,

and learn to see every injustice as the problem,

and learn how to put our two cents in to help solve them.

Because the future is brand new.

So what are the women and men of conscience going to do?

Cause when it comes down to it, it’s ganna be up to me and you.