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    Thorn Wilde
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Thorny Poetry - 45. I Remember You

Today was Transgender Day of Remembrance. In the past year, three hundred and eleven trans people have been killed.
Content warning: Murder

i remember you

Rita Hester

Allston, 1998

you never turned thirty-five

 

i remember you

Gwen Araujo

California, 2002

your assailants used a ‘trans panic defense’

they got off with second degree murder and manslaughter

 

i remember you

Gisberta Salce Júnior

Portugal, 2006

how could children do something so awful?

 

i remember you

Dwayne Jones

Jamaica, 2013

it was the first time you went out as yourself

you were sixteen

 

i remember you

Yoshi Tsuchida

Tokyo, 2015

your adopted daughter found you

 

i remember you

Muhlaysia Booker and

Chynal Lindsey

Dallas, 2019

murdered two weeks and a single mile apart

 

i remember you

transgender sex workers in

Mexico, 2019

some of you are named, many unknown

 

i remember you

one hundred and thirty trans siblings in

Brazil, 2019

i couldn’t find your names

and your murders were all but condoned by your government

 

i remember you

three thousand three hundred and seventeen known humans

killed worldwide in the past eleven years

for the crime of being trans

 

and i remember you too

nameless brother-sister

fellow human being

you who didn’t make it onto the statistics

because your family were ashamed or

the police misgendered you or

you were still in the closet

 

i remember you all

and i will not forget.

Copyright © 2014 - 2020 Thorn Wilde; All Rights Reserved.
  • Love 2
  • Sad 3
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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1 hour ago, Mikiesboy said:

i sat staring at this comment section this morning, wondering what i could write here. i can think of nothing that conveys my dismay, or the weight i feel in my shoulders, back and heart. these people who spout religion, love, and that we must accept people of colour, of religion ... yet this dirty secret is just fine in the eyes of many. 

it isn't

Thank you, tim. Trans women of colour are also over-represented in the statistics, so there's a fair bit of racism and misogyny that goes into this as well. It's horrifying, and I'm afraid for my trans family. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. It means a lot.

Edited by Thorn Wilde
  • Love 2
6 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

I’m grateful for your poem. It cuts through the numbness and clatter of the world. You take time to grieve, and this poem helps me to do the same. More importantly, I’ll remember. 

Thank you, Parker. I'm glad if my words can give you something. Even if it's something sad.

Edited by Thorn Wilde
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