Fuck Charlie Kirk

[So, I actually wrote this not long after the whole assassination thing happened, buuut it’s December and I feel like posting more poetry this month while I work on some upcoming posts, so that’s what you get!]

They held a rally for the fascist who died
there were pyrotechnics at his funeral
he said people like me
“should be dealt with like they did in the 50s and 60s”
And I’m still being scolded
for not mourning
Their small-featured martyr
apparently a calm white man with a baritone
deserves canonization for
being killed by the same words
he used as weapons

But when people demand grace and patience
without showing any
then say you deserve no quarter in the same breath
that’s just abuse in a cheap red ballcap
the tolerant have left
and if we’re using words as weapons
then catch the sharp end
of my self defense

I will not be quiet
I will not perform sadness
For a monster, a scam artist, or a grifter
I will not gracefully excuse
the fact that my member of Parliament,
Rachel Harder,
called for a standing ovation for a man who said
he’d make his daughter
bear a child of a rape to term
because forcing people to
give birth matters more than
our pain or our choices
I will not sit down and bite my tongue
For the potential of a career in politics
Because pinching our noses and making nice
Is how we got here

And if this poem makes you uncomfortable
and you want me to shut up
or be kinder
then look me in the eye and tell me
why I should care
about your feelings
more than my own or those of my communities

We will not be cowed
by your cowardice or fumbling snatches for power
we said “this pussy grabs back”
and now it’s got teeth

If this poem makes you uncomfortable
you do not have the right
to tell me to be nicer
and you can’t fucking make me.

***

A writer and artist, Michelle Browne lives in southern AB with xer family and their cats. She is currently working on the next books in her series, other people’s manuscripts, knitting, jewelry-making, and drinking as much tea as humanly possible. Find xer all over the internet: *Website * Amazon * Substack * Patreon * Ko-fi * Instagram * Bluesky * Mastodon * Tumblr * Medium * OG Blog * Facebook

 

 

 

Imposter Syndrome

 

So I’m staring down forty

over the horizon

and I don’t have an MFA

or a big publishing deal

or a six figure contract

I am crawling away

from the depression nest

of my faltering career

subsided from a bright flame

to coals from burnout

I never got famous as an editor

 

As a writer, I’ve dragged my feet

remembering to tell people is hard

and I’m trying to make it a habit

“Oh yes, I’m a writer and an artist”

it’s easier if

you pretend you’re talking about someone lese

who isn’t faking it: someone who wrote

several collections, a complete space opera series

a couple attempts at literature

a dystopian series faltering

but going ahead

a cozy academic trilogy

releasing now, serialised on Substack and Patreon

                                             

“I go by SciFiMagpie,” I say;

“You can call me Magpie”

 

And I hold my second name

Like a charm in my fist

I clutch that

and my strange pronouns

and my peculiar family

and my gothic affectations

only sheepishly permitted

to myself in adulthood

because I’m too old to be cool

and somehow, giving up on that

made me sexier

 

I take my scraps of identity

and I do my best to weave a nest

not to hide in while I’m depressed

but to hold ideas, hopes, plans

brooding over my future

rather than wondering

how I’d make it to thirty

 

Live like you’ve already failed

and everything else

becomes a gift.

***

A writer and artist, Michelle Browne lives in southern AB with xer family and their cats. She is currently working on the next books in her series, other people's manuscripts, knitting, jewelry-making, and drinking as much tea as humanly possible. Find xer all over the internet: *Website * Amazon * Substack * Patreon * Ko-fi * Instagram * Bluesky * Mastodon * Tumblr * Medium * OG Blog * Facebook