Every right denied; every dream deferred
Every injustice and indignity endured
Is one more paper cut
They are cumulative
And deadly as any gun or knife

I want to tell y'all a story
About a man named McCrory
Made a law about who can use what *****
The rest of the world thinks he is dotty
This man is a bigot
Can you dig it?
North Carolina really wonders
How he could make so many blunders
But soon we will make him pay
When we throw him out on Election Day!

Soaring high...beautiful, proud and bold
Feathers of red and yellow and gold
Flying high, soaring, forever free
Her only purpose, just to BE

Brave of heart, strong and true
But the day would come, she always knew
When all peace and joy and hope would die
And like Icarus, she’d fall from the sky

No longer soaring the sky so blue
Bold and beautiful, strong and true
Buried in a blanket of ashes soft and gray
Nobody wanted her on Burning Day

Yet from those ashes was she reborn
To grace the sky again next morn
Flying high, soaring, forever free
Her only purpose, just to BE

Born was I, in Illinois
Daddy thought, his little boy
My true self forced forever to hide
Feelings inside could not be denied
Daddy lost not thru death but rejection
Failed to live up to his expectation

Seething anger made me blind
Vowed never to look behind
Brokenhearted by his rebuff
Made my way resolved to be tough
Never could forgive him for my pain
Never to see my Daddy again

April the first, Daddy died
No one more surprised than I
When at his deathbed I cried
Daddy hooked up to tubes and wires
No longer could hold anger's fires

This is the moment we must seize
Daddy, forgive and love me please
He took my hand and gave a squeeze
Daddy's Little Girl I wanted to be
Twenty minutes was all the time had we

Discrimination
Desperation weighs heavy
Can I rise above?

An echo in the wind
Screaming her every word
Wanting only to be heard
Is it really so absurd?

A girl without a home
Fights her internal war
Beaten, battered, bruised and sore
Is there really nothing more?

A spirit without form
Three and twenty years grown
In a body not her own
For what sin must she atone?

An actress on a stage
Her life has been so cursed
Will every day just get worse
Her every move rehearsed?

Heart yearning to be free
Her self for all to see
Or will she forever be
Just an echo in the wind?

Electrolysis
My baptism by fire
True face revealed

As a hermit crab does she dwell
Safe within a borrowed shell
Here she lives in fear
Of the outside world
She feels so near

She exists here all alone
Only home she's ever known
Fearing what she'll find
Danger lies ahead
Safety left behind

No longer confined, free at last
All her doubts now in the past
Free now to explore
All the places
She feared before

My life burns down 'round my ears
My pain a bright flame that sears
No way forward can I see
The world arrayed against me
I'm cast into the Abyss
Feels like there is no justice
Reality, darkest fear
I scream but no one can hear
When I feel adrift at sea
Farthest from my apogee
Up from the ashes I shall soar
Pain and sorrow will be no more
My life's mission is polemics
I rise, for I am the Phoenix!

Just for once, I want to be allowed to cry
To give voice to that shuddering sigh
To be truthful, not having to lie
When inside I feel like I could die
When my broken wings no longer can fly

Just for once, I want to be weak
And let the tears roll down my cheek
When I fail to find what I seek
When prospects all seem bleak
When some call me a freak

Just for once, I want to be held at night
And told everything will be all right
When I feel like giving up the fight
And my pain has no end in sight
When in the darkness I see no light

Just for once, I want him to kiss away the tears
Brought from the depths by my darkest fears
For him to whisper sweet words in my ears
To just hold me till the morning light nears
And take away the pain of all these years

Just for once, I want to let it all out
Instead of being forced to stay stout
I want to give voice to all my doubt
Tell him what it's really all about
And cry for once...instead of shout

Fair lady locked up
London Bridge is falling down
Can it fall upward?

They fomented hate for years
Now give us crocodile tears
But they care not
For my sisters and brothers
My family just “others.”

Nine and forty souls were lost
My transgender heart tempest-tossed
Their gentle souls
Cut down by a gunman’s hate
They did not deserve their fate

Carry on, we will and must
We will fight for what is just
Sadness today
But one day our hearts will sing
While they soar on angel’s wing

Bright Phoenix feathers
Red and gold, orange and green
Why are there no blue?

Say their names, my sisters and brothers taken
They the ones society has forsaken
In life nor death given consideration
They come from around the world, every nation
Their entire lives, denied humanity
When will we see the end of insanity?
What if we cared less about their chromosomes
And welcomed them into our lives and homes?
What if, instead of showing them scorn and hate
We allowed them in life to participate?
Maybe if we said their names while still alive
Maybe if they were given a chance to thrive
Maybe if in life their value not denied
We'd not have to say their names when they have died

Just a girl from the prairie
Alone I face my adversary
Fear not in my vocabulary

Never once can I raise my hackles
For fear of attracting the jackals

Living life out on the edge
Seeking strength, the depths of me I dredge
Always stand tall, this my solemn pledge

Tis by my wits alone I survive
Circumstances most could not contrive

My life hard but no complaint
Good and true of heart, but I'm no saint
Mascara and lipstick my war paint

Of my life I shall not be cheated
My struggle never completed
I will never be defeated