Do you build a house
And complain
About it’s quality
Or do you seek the skills
To improve what needs
Improvement?
The answer says
Everything.
Profiting from Hate
This week’s column in the Winkler Morden Voice and Altona Rhineland Voice newspapers.
nine
a number
it is meaningful
it winds through
this life
my life
our lives
a time of grappling
a time of giving over
nine is spirit
shot through flesh
cannot be removed
it is
anniversary
part of me
part of you
like breath
it seeps into the blood
rushes to the brain
gives rise to thoughts
of beauty on a rainy day
impressing memory
like a forever flower
into a book
these words
they’re all i have
to give
may they live
beyond our days
these words
they are yours
you built this
hand in hand
with me
over
nine years
like the home
like a life
and i know
you are breathing
with me
even now
across the space
you in your place
me in mine
across these
nine years
who reads the poets
who reads the poets
in these days of dark inspiration
when the world rots to hell
giving us plenty to keep busy
as our pens plow lines
across field after field
of white space?
who reads the poets?
not so many that i can tell
only poets read the poets
keeping an eye on the competition
admiring the dead
while hating the living
those that write performance pieces
those that write dripping sacharine sweet
poems that belong on motivational posters;
who reads the poets,
we lesser children of greater sires
whose writing was first and foremost
hundreds of years ago
before the world got small
along with the minds within it?
who cares in the end
we write as those wounded
bleeding ourselves into your midst
we write as those breathing,
we write as those hearts beating –
it’s autonomic for the people.
we reads the poets?
it never mattered,
it never will.
we wander through the crowd
dropping gold to the ground
as all eyes stare up at the sun
lost in a poverty of blindness.
Become
And I imagine
That I will fade
That I
Will pass to the shade
Leaving what
I expect are impressions
Every act of meaning
Like a dandelion seed
Drifting into the future
On the currents of time
To become…
Become what?
It matters not…
For they will simply
Become
Separate
There has been
A tectonic shift
A great split
Within myself
That has seen
A part of me
Separate and drift away
To become a moon
That orbits my world
Far and out of reach
But always visible
A reminder of loss
In pale ivory white
Traversing the robin’s egg sky
this house
what is this thing
that changes us from within
like some unseen season
that sweeps us away unaware
too late to know what to do
but to fight fruitlessly
or fall free to its gruesome strength
and be carried away
to who knows where?
it could be life
or sour circumstance
twisting us til our bones break
to force us into to new
and ungainly shapes;
but i would hide from it all
lock the doors and black the windows
to sit quiet and motionless
in the invisible safety of the dark
if only the walls were strong enough
to keep out the grasping hands
to keep out the fishing hooks
that would tear me from my shell
as a mollusk ripped into the sun
to die writhing in the heat.
there is no safe place
no house or secret skull
within which to find refuge
there is only exposure,
cold and hungry and electric
undying exposure.
Knock on Wood
My latest column in this week’s Winkler Morden Voice and Altona Rhineland Voice newspapers.
Bill C9
Bill C9
The Supreme Court of Canada defines hatred as: “Emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation.”
The Court also explained that hatred refers to speech that: portrays a group as dangerous, subhuman, or worthless; encourages others to despise or mistreat the group goes beyond dislike, criticism, or offence.
What does NOT count as hatred under Canadian law –
The Supreme Court has repeatedly clarified that hatred does NOT include: mere dislike,
ridicule or satire, offensive or insulting speech,
strong criticism of beliefs, politics, or religion.
In simple terms under Canadian criminal law:
Criticizing or offending a group → legal;
Extreme vilification or dehumanization of a group → may qualify as hate propaganda.
C-9 keeps and clarifies protections for certain religious expression, but it does not allow religion as a blanket exemption for promoting hatred.
- Existing religious protection in the Criminal Code. Under the Criminal Code of Canada, section 319(3) already provides a defence for hate-speech charges if a person:
- expressed or attempted to establish by argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.
This defence applies only if the statements are made in good faith.
- What Bill C-9 does:
Bill C-9 does not remove this defence. The bill keeps the existing protection for good-faith religious discussion or teaching. In other words, the bill still allows:
- Quoting or teaching religious texts
- Expressing religious doctrines
- Debating religious beliefs
- What is NOT protected
The defence does not apply if the speech crosses into criminal hate propaganda, such as:
- wilfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group
-inciting violence or genocide
If speech reaches that threshold, religious motivation would not protect it.
In the dark
When you are raised
In the dark
You take hold
Of the dark things
That you might
Not feel so alone
Though they consume you
Body and soul
Until you lay as bones
In the cave
You were born in