Tag Archives: narrative

A Poem Called “Nothing About Us”

Nothing About Us,

by theamazinJ

Everywhere we go,
everywhere we look,
We see destruction,
we see walls being built,
we see the development of institutions,
we see the lack of community building,
everywhere we go we see Donald Trump’s face
in place of the faces from the 1930’s,
where in 1927, Oliver Wendell Holmes
from the U.S. Supreme Court
finished what was started in America
where the dark history of America
helped stir the pot in Germany back then,
where even today
many people still keep in mind
what American History is really about,
keeping the rich richer,
and about building a fascist state of mind,
while The U.S. Supreme Court in 1927
from Buck Vs. Bell
secured a statement
that is still in everyone’s minds today
stirring the message over and over in their heads.
The message was clear, the message was disturbing,
and the message was concrete,
when Holmes said “Three Generations of Imbeciles were enough…”
It allowed the preconceived notion
that the medical model of disability will dominate,
it also allowed Americans
to build a war against each others
against society
and against disability
while at the same time
trying to prevent disability
and not only that,
but eventually labeling
everyone ‘high’ functioning or ‘low’ functioning,
and even establishing medical charity organizations
to this day
to use this rhetoric from Buck vs. Bell
even more than they had done before
to establish a society of sameness,
a society of perfect bodies,
a society where there would be lethal forced euthanasia,
a society where there would be eradication of certain peoples,
and a society segregating people
by class, by gender, by race, by sexuality, by ability,
and by religion.
This is the society Donald Trump wants,
this is the society that Paul Ryan hopes for,
this the society Mitch McConnell strives for
and what Mike Pence asserts every day.
We need to stop this from happening,
we need to embrace every part of humanity
every day of our lives,
with supporting each other,
and encouraging everyone
while remembering
why we are here on this planet,
and how we can rely on each other everyday for support.
Society is interdependent,
we are not finches,
we cannot take Darwin literally when he said
it’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’,
because humanity is different,
humanity is supported,
we support one another,
we support other animals,
we support other kingdoms of taxonomy,
we support the climate of this great planet,
if someone is sought out to destroy this diversity
then we need to sought out justice to the people
wanting to harm and wanting to do this,
because we need to construct
a world of love for this planet
and everything and everybody that is on it,
no one can take that away
and no one can segregate or harm another,
in the end,
its our duty to take care of one another
regardless of who or what we are,
regardless of what kinds of supports
the person needs to achieve their own self-determination,
because we cannot be influenced by
Donald Trump’s establishment or Paul Ryan’s anger or Mitch McConnell’s fury,
or even Mike Pence’s ignorance,
To be truly United,
we need to include everyone,
we need to build community,
because disability is part of the human experience,
but is also part of living organisms,
and we need to remember,
Nothing about us, without us
is Nothing about US.
Everyone supporting one another, is not controlling anyone regardless,
that’s what democracy is really about.

A Poem Called “Tyrant and Martyr”

Tyrant and Martyr,

by theamazinJ

One day,
a tyrant walked in the door,
they walked up to the cafe stand,
sat down on the bench,
asked for a coffee, a shot of whisky, and steak with eggs,
asking the steak be well done to martyr without the blood,
The Tyrant say “I hate blood, I drink far too often”
The Martyr taking their order says “Be right up and ready in 10 minutes”
The Tyrant spills the beans,
they become very serious as always,
the tyrant rubs his forehead in dismay,
they refute anything that comes their way.
The tyrant sits and waits,
and waits and waits and waits,
ready for something to happen.
The martyr disputes the order.
They take the conversation further,
saying to each other without each other hearing either one,
“You hurt me, You started first, NOW is the time your going to pay”
The tyrant thinks in their own mind how they will make their martyr pay
while the martyr thinks of ways their tyrant can seek revenge.
The martyr glares at the whisky, wonders about the coffee,
and thinks of something as that steak grills
while those eggs get cooked and cooked.
The tyrant fuels their anger on ways to say
how much the martyr is their beyotch.
But, the martyr is thinking something differently,
that may be the Tyrant is their lover.
A lover who cannot admit their vulnerabilities,
and instead changes the thoughts and feelings
of the martyr to think they are vulnerable to them.
The tyrant grabs their fork, gets up from their chair at the bar,
and brings the fork to the chart outside the bathroom,
throws the fork into the bullseye,
and says to themselves, “I won!”
The martyr takes their spoon
and cherishes for themselves to ease their energy
while remembering something they need to communicate.
The martyr has been abused by their tyrant.
The tyrant wants the martyr to think of their abuse to them.
No one wins anything right, but everyone wins in their own way.
Every time the tyrant and the martyr walk into the room together,
they spill themselves like this every single time
no matter what.
So, what it’s going to be?
The tyrant gets their way
or, the martyr finally gets theirs.
The martyr or the tyrant?
Is the Tyrant accusatory?
Is the martyr thinking about revenge when they shouldn’t?
Violence among each other,
violence solving issues?
Human contact is vulnerable to violence,
whether it is physical, emotional, psychological, or even spiritual.
The tyrant finally gets their steak and eggs after longer than 10 minutes,
after that finally gets their whisky,
then after that gets their coffee spilling with beans.
The tyrant asks “What are these beans for?” to the martyr.
The martyr answers “The beans are for every time you pass gas thinking about every thought you ever had”
The tyrant stands up glaring at the martyr,
“Is that a threat?”
The Martyr just says “No, it’s what happens when you eat beans that come with your eggs, see it’s on the menu”
The Tyrant says “Oh, I didn’t see that!”
The Tyrant backs down and goes about eating.
See, the tyrant thinks they knows everything, has hurt many in their lifetime, and takes away freedoms.
While, seeing how the martyr is very angry the way their freedoms were taken away by them.
The tyrant calls for action and terrible action everyday,
thinking the world is about to end without them,
while the martyr thinks the world has ended already from the Tyrant.
However, the tyrant is giddy and laughing now,
when they walk to the next table behind the bar they are sitting down on,
seeing another potential for them to abuse.
The tyrant explains they are getting up to the martyr,
when the martyr asks “What for?”
But, the Tyrant gets up, pays 5 dollars on the counter, and walks over to the other at the tables.
The Martyr says “But, that will be 20 dollars, not 5…”
The Tyrant does not care and begins walk up to the other,
when the other does not realize it or even see the Tyrant coming,
there is a huge bang suddenly heard, the lights go out, and their is scuffling,
5 minutes later, the lights go back on,
The tyrant is laying there lying on their back,
without anything,
when the other suddenly gets up wondering what happened,
and the martyr gets around the counter to the table wondering the same,
while that happens,
the martyr and the other say together in whispers “Is dead? Call the ambulance.”
Then, the other says more loudly “Call the Ambulance!” to the martyr.
the martyr calls the ambulance.
the ambulance comes with the police together,
when the police says to the martyr “So, what happened?”
As the tyrant is taken by ambulance to the hospital,
the police and martyr are talking in the cafe casually
smiling back and forth from each other,
when the other is looking back at the cafe
from a half a block away
while the ambulance is loudly driving away sirens on and off and on
to the hospital for help from the doctors…