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Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XIV

I’m not sure why I’m including this particular graphic with this particular poem.  I’m sure there is something deeply psychological involved.  It seemed appropriate, for some reason.

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Satin

My Label is not a Slur

My label is not a slur

My label does not mean

repulsive or obscene

should not induce

revulsion or hatred

I am not subhuman

Different, yes,

but not less than you

I am not “really” anything

except a human being

There are more of you

so we live in your world

rather than one

of our own choosing

Do we threaten you?

Do you fear us?

How did we earn

the ridicule?

How did we earn

the hatred?

How did we earn

your silence?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 31, 2006

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XIII

I have learned, over time, to celebrate being Other.  The boundaries of human existence are the frontiers of our possibilities.

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Eggstraction

On the Borderlands

The land

on the border

is fertile

The people

are kind

gentle

content

for the most part

until of course

the patrol comes by

to force everyone

to move to one side

or the other

That causes

great turmoil

on the borderlands

so sometimes

we move

the border

when they aren’t looking

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 3, 2006

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.

Café Discovery: Feelings

The other night Debbie asked me to tell her when were the happy times in my life.  Was I ever happy?

I told her that, contrary to any outward appearances or to what other people have believed about me, I spend most of my time happy–in my understanding of the word–because I continue to hold out hope that the world will get better and that I have tried to do what I can to help in that process.  But I also told her that I get disappointed a lot about the fact that the happiness I have felt has seemed to end up misplaced, that the world has not usually become a better place, no matter what efforts I may make.  

That brings me sadness and I don’t like being sad.  In the past I have looked for what I can change to eliminate that sadness.  What can I do to regain that happiness, even if it has a false face?

Admitting to myself that what I have been doing has failed, that it hasn’t resulted in what I have desired, even if it is valued by others, is the usual first step.

I don’t like being a failure at what I endeavor, but an honest evaluation of my life would display that I have consistently been one.  

Friday Philosophy: Diversity

We read.  We absorb.  We often find thoughts expressed in much better ways than we could ever express them ourselves.  Sometimes we seek to share those thoughts, hoping against hope that someone else will see what we see, hear what we hear, feel what we feel.

I’ve been spending a long time reading/reading about William Stafford, a neighbor of days gone by, trying to absorb perhaps what could have been in another happentrack.

_ # ^ &  _ # ^ &  _ # ^ &  _

The Locomotive’s engineer cast hir mind outwards and sought awareness.  The WeaveMothers, those collective consciousnesses which had distilled from the collective knowledge of all creatures in the Greataway were tending their flocks and new happentracks were condensing into existence.  SpaceTime expanded.  There were new choices for the path of the train to take.

The Storyteller plucked a poem from the past.  The Listener perked up.  The Passenger slept.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XII

It has taken years of learning and self-examination to come to an understanding of myself and gender as it applies to my experience, tentative though they still may remain.  According to some, it was unnecessary labor.  Everyone is an expert on gender.  Without any study…or even very much thought.  They know so much more than I do, to the point where they can so easily invalidate my existence.  

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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

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.

This is an open thread.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XII

It has taken years of learning and self-examination to come to an understanding of myself and gender as it applies to my experience, tentative though they still may remain.  According to some, it was unnecessary labor.  Everyone is an expert on gender.  Without any study…or even very much thought.  They know so much more than I do, to the point where they can so easily invalidate my existence.  

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

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.

This is an open thread.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XI

Sound bytes have their uses, but can be quite limiting as well.

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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

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.  I’m hoping to instigate something more appropriate.  

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion X

So what was I going to say from that forum I tentatively occupied.  It was painfully going to be about me much of the time, but I had to have an underlying message.

One learns.  One teaches.

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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

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.  Currently mine is a little constipated when I would prefer it be syncopated.

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion X

So what was I going to say from that forum I tentatively occupied.  It was painfully going to be about me much of the time, but I had to have an underlying message.

One learns.  One teaches.

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

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.  Currently mine is a little constipated when I would prefer it be syncopated.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion IX

Ultimately, being invisible doesn’t help anybody, especially not yourself.  Visibility comes back when one develops one’s voice.  If you speak up, people stare.  While they stare, it helps to have something to say.

If people are going to give you a podium, you should put it to use.

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

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.  Currently mine is a little constipated when I would prefer it be syncopated.

Muse in the Morning

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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

Please join us on the inside to celebrate, venerate, regenerate and/or motivate our muses.  I’m hoping some more new poems can be anticipated.

Café Discovery: The Unfather

Every year is the same.  Father’s Day shows up, an uninvited guest which has already used up the first three days of its visit (as per the old saying) and is beginning to resemble the dead fish way too much.

father

O.E. fæder, from P.Gmc. *fader (cf. O.N. faðir, Ger. vater), from PIE *p@ter (cf. Sanskit pitar−, Gk. pater, L. pater, O.Pers. pita, O.Ir. athir “father”), presumably from baby-speak sound like pa. The classic example of Grimm’s Law, where PIE “p−” becomes Gmc. “f−.”  Spelling with −th− (16c.) reflects widespread phonetic shift in M.E. that turned −der to −ther in many words; spelling caught up to pronunciation in 1500s (cf. burden, murder).  Fatherland (1623) is a loan-translation of Ger. Vaterland, itself a loan-translation of L. patria (terra), lit. “father’s land.”  Father’s Day dates back to 1910 in Spokane, Wash., but was not widespread until 1943, in imitation of Mother’s Day.

Online Etymology Dictionary

I mostly want to go hide somewhere, so I’ll mostly be watching men play golf.  Go figure.  It’s most assuredly not a good way to avoid Father’s Day.

Last year I wrote the following, which flashes back to an even earlier post in another SpaceTime.  It made the Rec List at the Orange.  Think of it as a way for me not to have to write something new.

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