Q

Pulsing music, flashing lights

Dancing in the Colorado night

Bodies move with rhythmic grace

Glowing smiles on each face

The club is packed with dance and glee

A place to live authentically

The music stops as shots ring out

Panic ensues and patrons shout

Two people take action to save lives

A veteran and a trans woman with no guns or knives

18 injured; 5 lives gone

Many others in shock and wan

The morning of Transgender Day of Remembrance the news hits our screens

This mass shooting is about more than it seems

More than gun violence, more than hate

Bolstered by the political climate

As a person who uses words to process what is around me

This is beyond what I can sort without getting angry

I feel a loss on a deeper plane

I'm not afraid, but then again

I am a member of this community

Both religious and LGBT

My anger is not violent or destructive. It's a choice

A righteous call to use my voice

This senseless loss of life is oversimplified

We seek to blame and a reason these club-goers died

Many will say it's guns or religious policy

I think it's more like apathy

Ignorance, distance, and a willing blind eye

If it happens to those whom your thoughts pass by

"It's not my problem, it doesn't effect me."

But that is a false reality

When society runs on fear and falls apart

It's not a matter of policy but of the heart

The sickness in the minds of cowardly men

Has stirred up hatred once again

Decades of progress, ages of plight

Seem to have regressed even before that night

And my anger and tears

Built on the suffering of previous years

The sacrifice of those who came before

The call to rise up once more

Comes down to recounting tragedy on this page

As I process my righteous rage

I don't know if my words hold any sway

Or if anyone will care at the end of the day

I am but one voice in a global community

My words echoing the cry to live openly

No more lives lost. No more painful tears

We are not the cause of your prejudice and fears

LGBTQIA are not the problem in all this mess

And if we're too much, go find less