Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Matt Forrest Esenwine. Thank you for hosting and please stop his blog, Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme to see what he has in store for us.
This week I am concerned, as I have been for a long time, for children in this country, every single one.
Recently state laws have been passed or proposed that will criminalize doctors and parents of one politically powerless group, transgender kids. Their crime as doctors or parents? Simply trying to help young people they care about, in privacy, cope with serious mental health issues concerning gender identity.
While these laws are considered and passed, the incidence of kids wanting to harm themselves is rising.
Ignorance fosters fear and we need less of it.
To grow up, kids need positive messages, like the one found in WE BELONG, a new picture book by Laura Purdie Salas, Illustrated by Carlos Vélez Aguilera. Whether you quiet, loud, tall, short, white or black, or from a distant place, you deserve respect in this world. You deserve safety.
The art is colorful and joyful.
Salas speaks in these pages of the right to exploring your most personal identity. All of us are on a journey to understand our own private feelings and to accept who we are without shame and certainly without government interference. It’s personal and a lifelong journey.
People don’t set out to pick from a list of identities and simply put it on. No, who we are is something we learn as we grow up, hopefully along with adults and others in a community who love us, teach us, want the best for us, and do not shame us. It’s true growing up in the city and the country.
This is a short excerpt by Laura Purdie Salas. It reads well aloud, as you might expect from such a talented poet.
There are boys. There are girls. And even more choices. Let's build a world where there's room for all voices. Play with the toys that you think are fun. Put on a tutu and hit a home run! Be who you feel like. CHOOSE WHO YOU ARE. Let your own heart be the guiding North Star.
Everyone needs to hear this message as a child:
Thank you, Matt, for hosting.