'Some of my best friends are....'

'Some of my best friends are....' timothy r gates, 8/28/2012
at evening supper,

speaking of the Poor People's March,

my father said,

“Some of our best friends are black people.”

i didn't get slapped across the room,

this time,

but i blurted out,

“Where are they?”

as we watched 'cute young black children'

hosed down,

broadcast on all three TV networks,

i heard the beginning of change,

he barely got it out,

“I don't care what colour they are,

no one's children deserves this shit!”

years later these loving parents admitted,

“We were wrong to threaten to disown you

if you dated a black girl.”

I did.

Her father threatened the same.

We didn't tell our parents.

after all these years –

this innocuous phrase is repeated,

'Some of my best friends are gay.”

i won't get slapped across the room,

these days,

yet will be snubbed like an Anabaptist shunning,

when i ask the same question,

“Where are they?”

Uncle Bob died by asphyxiation,

couldn't live with the possible implications of being found out

(i can still see my mother breaking down at his closed casket).

recently my father said to my mother,

“It's too bad, Marvin didn't live today –

maybe he wouldn't have needed to die.”

Some of my best friends change.

Others don't.

Maybe not being burned at the stake breeds indifference.

I wonder,

“Where are they?”

'I'm offended'

'I'm offended' timothy r gates, 8/26/2012

Lord have mercy:
when I think my shit doesn't stink,
sweet like baby shit,
ready to spew
yet you know diapers must be changed.
When I get angry
over another's attack on 'my' political
gal or guy,
as though she/he truly gives a shit.
When my creed, or yours,
is above ridicule -
honestly, what good is a deity
if they're not able to take it?
So you're offended,
thinking your opinion is transcendent beautification?
Maybe -
most likely just personal bullshit,
giving a feeling of in the clouds significance.
I am offended?
A Monk once offered to my complaint,
"When I think too highly of my own opinion."
Lord have mercy,
sufficient for me.
If this offends you,
maybe it's time to change a diaper.

'She inclines her ear' - 'praying' - 'Rape, a personal note'

'She inclines her ear' timothy r gates, 6/7/2012

Lady Liberty once invited
those seeking refuge
offering freedom's poetry.
Lylith may have been too much for
our first man from the earth,
not prepared for a shared image,
this God observes,
"Let Us make man in Our image,
male and female created he them."
Eve, wellspring of life,
wept at Abel's repose
was brought to silence
at his brother's birth,
Seth.
Once asked by a friend,
often choosing homelessness
over a home's safety,
loudly crackling,
as walking into the Bookshoppe,
"What do you think of God today,
brother?"
He roared at my immediate.
"I'm not real fond of God -
but i do kind of like his Mother."
She inclines her ear,
making sure we do too.
Lady Liberty
extends her lantern,
praying that iconoclasts
become iconodules,
doing more than singing
"We shall overcome."  

'Praying' timothy r gates, 8/4/2012

as a little boy
i prayed,
"God bless mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa,
and everyone,
and God bless
those without food,
or mommy, daddy, grandpa or grandma."
as i passed adolescence
i prayed,
giving detailed instructions,
ending with,
"God bless Mother, Dad, Grandma,
and my Grandpa (his blessed repose welcomed),
and those suffering without food, house
or love."
as i grew older i tried not to pray,
yet I did,
trying to disregard anyone larger
than in this space,
being prey, and watching others preyed upon,
by pious and impious souls,
not getting this waste of being,
i still prayed that they'd stop.
as i'm growing older,
seemingly reclaiming a stolen innocence,
i pray,
not knowing, but loving,
"Lord have mercy upon
my ill father and mother, my blessed reposed grandpa and grandma
(I immediately remember those I love taken from this life
by loss of present breath,
and I get their tears at the loss of. their loved ones),
and those causing the suffering of others,
those suffering because others choose not to love -
please, I don't know anything for sure,
Lord have mercy upon all people, species, and things."    

'Rape' or 'Rape - a personal note' timothy r gates, 8/23/2012

"I didn't mean to hurt you
Couldn't help myself"
Or,
"I misspoke, but I didn't mean what I said"
Or,
"I'm sorry, I won't do it again"
Politicians parse what happened to you
Religious leaders remind you,
"Forgive and forget"
Folks of principle
tell you "It's not your body"
Somehow it belongs to -
the temple, the state, the population,
the proliferers or the prochoicers -
one thing for sure,
"You are not your own"
Have you ever had your innocence stolen?
Your natural physical self discovery circumvented?
Your memory banks ripped?
Your hurt from trust strangled marginalized?
Do you know the difference between a
boy or girl raped?
A woman or man raped?
A virtuous or person paid for sex -
raped?
None when it comes to memory,
like all things -
they're lived in the present.
When all those well meaning folks,
in the same words of your violator of person,
pat your hands and quiveringly whisper,
"I understand your pain"
I remember what it still feels like to be
blamed
for their indiscretion.
I do pray for mercy.
Like any holocaust,
you do not forget.