The tragedy at Club Q was Colorado Springs' 11th mass shooting since 2013. An audio track that accompanies each project features the poet reading their words. NW: In Colorado Springs, people don't take community for granted, because we need community here. Nicole, who uses the pronouns they, them, and their, drew inspiration for the poem from an afternoon spent in Oakland, California, where they felt safe to explore a new neighborhood. To see all of five of this year's poems and posters, visit the Transgender Day of Resilience website(Opens in a new tab). Now is the time for allies to be donating. I can't remember much else of what I said, but I sat down, pulled out my phone and wrote the rest as a stream of consciousness. In late November, Nico Wilkinson spoke at a community church service in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in response to the mass shooting at Club Q, in which five people were killed and 19 others injured. Trans day of get home safe. I started texting all my trans and queer friends, "I love you. Afterward, when they took their seat in the pew, they began writing a poem, which they later shared on their Instagram account. Trans day of i will see you in the morning. What we're often saying in poetry — queer people to queer people — is "This is what I want for you: I want you to have immense joy and love, and I want (trans people) to have a lifespan that so exceeds the lifespan that we are prescribed by statistics to have.
There is a terrible violence that is rooted in the history of this city against marginalized people, and that is not what makes this community great, but it is that (the queer) community stands so strong and so bright in the face of that. As individual pieces, they also serve as powerful messages, in particular, the lovely Prayer of Peace. We have a lot of transphobic people and religious fundamentalists in the Colorado Springs school boards who are making the lives of LGBTQ young people really difficult. The separate project, known as Transgender Day of Resilience(Opens in a new tab), is a "reimagining" of how to honor both transgender people who died violently and transgender people who lead happy, fulfilling lives, despite the often terrifying odds stacked against them. The pairs created complementary visual art and poetry that explores themes of resilience and liberation. To join with the transgender community and allies at the.
HCN: How has your poetry and the works of others responding to the shooting acted as a salve for the many people grieving both locally and across the country? Trans day of guns melted down to o-rings. I keep returning to it as a way to fathom it. Trans day of dancing until we can't anymore. The day after the tragedy was also Transgender Day of Remembrance. Their goal was to instead focus on the "beauty and magic" of being black and transgender. We thank you, Alycia, for your service and your gifts... "It's important to recognize how much strength we all have, " Khadar says. A flyer with more information is further down, and you. It is a great honor to share with you these "last gifts of peace seeds" from Alycia Davis, a trans woman who has been a peace and environment activist for many years. For many of those most deeply affected by the shooting, poetry has become a salve for their grief and confusion. "I was trying to channel a space in which I didn't feel heavy, and what that would look like to continue that feeling, " nicole says. She is currently under the care of hospice as she goes through stage 4 cancer.
Trans day of not being the bigger person. May click this link to RSVP and register for this virtual event. Alycia's gifts include Seeds of Peace, written for teen/adult use, group gatherings, teachings, Sunday Service themes, retreats, seminars, peace camps, and similar settings. Nicole worked with the artist Amir Khadar, who created artwork with references to the star tarot card and the West African spiritual practice known as Yoruba.
NW: In that space of immense grief and trying to find some way to feel like I can continue to exist in this incredibly sharp and cruel world, I have to do something. For that, we are grateful. And that wound, it's varying in sizes. I was just trying to heal myself by plastering this city with a reminder of both the pain and power of this community.
The whole time I felt wracked with grief. "It's important to continue to fight for the living and honor them in the ways I know how, " says poet kiki nicole, who wrote(Opens in a new tab) "litany in which you are still here. " Trans day of eyeliner and glitter and body hair and sweat and flashing lights. Trans day of unabashed faggotry. Trans day of living a long, long life. Trans day of we are the ones we've been waiting for. Trans day of never having to explain our bodies or language.
keepcovidfree.net, 2024