I don't use a pronoun. As far as we're concerned, pronouns are just another way for people to “other” us. The conversation about this is important though…how do we make room for everyone and make sure we all get the respect, validation and access that we need to survive and thrive? Is the shift in language, to include gender non-conforming pronouns, enough? Do we need to do more, go deeper, change our language and perception in such a way that not only shows respect and recognition to those of us who are challenging the sicgender/heteronormative status quo, but actually changes that very status quo into a much more inclusive, interesting and healthy living environment.
In this poem we are challenging the sufficiency of the shift in pronoun language to bring about the change we need. It's a good starting point, but already “they/them” pronouns have been co-opted and used to enrich TV networks and Hollywood executives in the name of fair representation. It is not enough to represent queer reality in media and art, it is time to acknowledge the need for a new kind of creature that already knows we are all equal, who sees it as ALL our responsibility to make our outside reality match the truth we already know and believe within.
For us the shift is evolutionary - from huMAN to HUEmyn.
Our orientations, identities and all other expressions of our genuine selves, are crucial, fundamental, and must be protected and supported; but that does not speak to the need for a new kind of creature group - one dedicated to stewarding the Earth, caring for ALL life, using our advance intellect to be smart and efficient in reversing the damage we are doing, and figure out a way to live here which is not destructively human-centric.
We need to become, individually and a collectively, a presence on this planet which espouses LIFE and well being for us, for our home and everyone who lives in it.
Please comment in the available space, we would love to hear your reactions.
Indigo
Pronouns (learn how to belong) by Indigo pearl
Why is the only validity we get the one others can name?
just because they are blind doesn't mean I am not trying hard enough to be seen
am I not constructing new language for them to understand me with fast enough?
how can it be faster than flying slurs and bullets?
The name
the feeling
the sense of belonging
that we put into
a word for you to say
took all this life to coin
to mint
to fake until
we make it real
But even now
looking at the real
you expect it to be packaged
in some kind of
fancy dress pretension
to be something sorta similar
to what we are
something you already know how to co-opt and own
and fit into your profit margin
everything and everyone in the margins of what you consider human
you know what slowpoke?
I no longer care if you come along
if you perish on the way
if you evaporate
with all the nuclear attachments and amusements
nuclear families
nuclear bombs
nuclear pollution
nuclear catastrophe
to wipe out the nuclear
hu-man-ity
centered around
men and their
never ending greed
for more
If the earth could be raped and pillaged to extinction
you will have maybe made a dent
in the bitch that is to be totally dependent on womyn
to even exist
even the artificial wombs will always echo the ones nature made
the vulnerability of infancy and very old age
is the realm of female energy
inclusive nurturance
even you, the man-machines
will have to learn to emulate
The seeds of goodness love oneness and connection
the way we can't help but cooperate even in our own demise
these seeds will take root
because the earth is bigger
than the people's power to destroy her
and our internalized enlightenment
no matter how deeply buried in the murky tarred lungs
of the tortured Human Being
that light will break through and they will become
Hue-myn
or burn up
Radical inclusion is death
to the cancer that is
competitive separateness gone amok
and the spores of radical inclusion are in us all
The Earth will change until all our aberrations are included
even if the only way is to melt us finally
in a giant melting pot
of lava
and yes
brimstone
It isn't punishment
just the natural consequence
of giving into that which has always
held and tolerated us
that which is maybe not such a nice parent
but rather a good parent...
Hu-man-ity needs to take a long time out
while Huemynity becomes the dominant species
a people informed by light
instead of the darkest ideas they can come up with
let's see if we can make that stick
Huemyns
see and name
that which functions well
and that which needs removal
in life
in language
in arranging all the things
You can't create
a new world
only from these
scorched demented pieces
time to
replace some
empower others to exist
create a new balance
that cannot be described
in the context of the market place
and learn how to belong on planet Earth!