Robyn – Page 149 – DocuDharma

Nov 21 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XII

Art Link

Shades

Uncommon Wisdom

“Gender is ENTIRELY a social construct”

How easily is my existence denied

my experience dismissed

squashed like a bug

my motivations questioned

in front of everybody

How different are

testosterone and estrogen?

I know

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 7, 2006

Nov 20 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XI

Art Link

Knot

Personal View

Born in the wrong body?

Bunch of crap

in my opinion

The one I have

is the only body

I was given

Nobody else has

the one I was

supposed to have

Born in the wrong culture

definitely

in the wrong time period

most likely

on the wrong planet

quite possibly

But it’s not like

I had a choice

in the matter

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 3, 2006

Nov 19 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion X

Art Link

Red Neon

On Gender

extraordinary – weird

unconventional – odd

exceptional – queer

peculiar – strange

gifted – outlandish

outstanding – bizarre

special – eccentric

curious – atypical

unusual – abnormal

Why is “normal”

the objective?

There is

a broad horizon

of possibility

for the human

condition.

Rather than circling

our wagons

to protect and defend

only one or two

or even just a few

acceptable ways

of living,

shouldn’t we

begin the exploration

of those other

possibilities?

Why isn’t it possible

to expand the definition

of woman

and expand the definition

of man,

while simultaneously allowing

people to claim neither

or both or even

to develop

whole new categories

of gender?

What does

society have

to lose?

What does

society have

to fear?

Once again, I ask:

Why is normality

the objective?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–November 9, 2005

Nov 18 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion IX

Art Link

Colors

People

I don’t know

exactly when

I became one of us

if I first decided

I was

or maybe it was when

someone called me

one of “those people”

but I can’t deny

I have a people

I belong to

We all do

whether we deny it

or not

As one of my people

I can not sit idly by

while my people

are disparaged

degraded

humiliated

dismissed

We are not jokes

Our lives are not jokes

What we have

to put up with

from other people

vicious other people

is no joke

My people

are teachers

are artists

are thinkers

are lesbians

are writers

are gender-variant

and so much

ever so much

so god damned much

more

my people

all my people

I cannot

be divided

against myself

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 15, 2006

Nov 17 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion VIII

Art Link

Working with Silver

On Worth

Treasure comes in many shades

For some it is always material

For me it is the wonder

of the measurable variability

of human thought and emotion

In the hearts and minds

and souls of others

I find the value

of my own

substance

of my own

independence

Difference is the light

in the darkness

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 13, 2006

Nov 16 2008

Café Discovery: beginnings

By Robyn in Teaching

Previous episodes:

250 years of history

mathematics and science, philosophy and religion

Dutch history

to the heavens and back

imitating christ

I’d like to express extreme appreciation to the Mathematics Genealogy Project and Wikipedia.

Last time we had gotten back as far as Thomas à Kempis. Thomas was educated as a copyist by the newly formed Brethren for the Common Life.

Nov 15 2008

Friday Philosophy: Choosing happiness

By Robyn in GLBT, Philosophy

It’s an old argument. Old as the hills. Older than some kinds of dirt. But then, so am I.

The thinking goes like this:

It is totally wrong to discriminate against someone because of something they had no control over.

Nobody could disagree with that. Surely I don’t. But as someone who taught logic for a quarter century, I am all too aware of human frailty in this matter. Some people read that as having the implication that it would not be wrong to discriminate against someone because of what they did choose.

There’s the culprit: thinking that it is okay to discriminate against people.

Nov 14 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion VI

Art Link

Carving

The Whittlers

All it took

was for me

to become different

They jumped

at the chance

they sit around

waiting for

to grab their knives

and carve away

at my reputation

my physical body

my possessions

my dignity

my humanity

but inside

I was resolute

tougher than

I would have thought

stubborn to the core

The pain sliced

at the surface

of my soul

but deep inside

I was free

and they were chained

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 22, 2006

Nov 13 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion VI

Art Link

Who?

Choosing

He was

I am and will be

It took a sharp blade to divide us

He carried me through tough times

and brought me to where I could be

but it was unbearable

too utterly suffocating

and bitterly ravaging

that he lived while I hid

wasting away

slowly rotting

the years away

a life mislived

It was him

or both of us

There was only one vessel

One had to die

I chose

I chose him

I do not regret that he lived

I am who he wished he could be

but could not manage

to be

Not to be

was the alternative

so I chose

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 25, 2006

Nov 12 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion V

Art Link

Sensory Input

A Teacher

What more could

anyone want to be

than a studier

learning what one wants

or needs to learn

so that one can

learn more

each nugget of wisdom

parsed again and again

into 17 different contexts

just for the fun of it

joyously reading

for the knowledge contained

or just to view

the style

in which it was presented

levels upon levels

of viewpoints

and knowledge

always knowledge

deeper and broader

at the edge

of human experience

and beyond

forever knowledge

both profound and absurd

and eventually

for the lucky industrious few

getting paid to think

and help others

along their own paths

to enlightenment?

I am a teacher

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 22, 2006

Nov 11 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion IV

Art Link

Coming Out

Layers of Being

Like the layers

of an onion

I peel away

the layers

of who I am

boy student

athlete man

draft-dodging

longhaired hippie freak

Like the layers

of an onion

each new layer

of myself

reveals nuance

taoist husband

father soldier

socialist teacher

commie pinko pacifist

Like the layers

of an onion

peeling further

uncovers

a richer me

woe-man poet

tranny activist

lesbian artist

gay homo dyke queer

Like the layers

of an onion

is the truth of

the being

of the human

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–November 4, 2005

Nov 10 2008

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion III

Art Link

Flower

Flower

It started as

a piece of detail

in another work

a small

barely opened bud.

Then it bloomed.

Or is that

the story

of my life?

Sometimes

I forget.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–November 3. 2005

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