Author: Kim Siever

I live in Lethbridge with my spouse and 5 of our 6 children. I’m a writer, focusing on social issues and the occasional poem. My politics are radically left. I recently finished writing a book debunking several capitalism myths. My newest book writing project is on the labour history of Lethbridge.

I’m also dichotomally Mormon. And I’m a functional vegetarian: I have a blog post about that somewhere around here. My pronouns are he/him.

Categories
Faith crisis poetry

Collision

  1. Implicitly, complicit he perpetuates toxicity;
  2. He balks the talk while talks the talk because for him, talk is the tea.
  3. The fingernail a wrist impales while signs inhale and oaths exhale,
  4. “Or shall it be morality,” he asks as he tears at the veil.
  5. He treats his keys like vile disease, dismantling, yet still appease.
  6. He’s channelling a balancing between the charge and the reprise.
  7. Does he suppose that to oppose or, too, expose what no one knows
  8. Will bring him rest from this protest, at last be blessed with a repose?
  9. Yet clinging on, the singing gone, he still can hear the ringing yon,
  10. So fighting will and writing still, a dwindling hope still bringing dawn.
  11. Two worlds collide, the soul divide. To merge? To purge? It‘s all untried.
  12. Abandon one? Demandin’ one? One thing’s for sure. They will collide.
Categories
Faith crisis poetry

Lifeless

  1. Once was filled with life; now lifeless.
  2. Pearl of great price became priceless.
  3. Saved by Christ, but now just Christless.
  4. Tepid now, but once was righteous.
  5. Shadows dwell, replacing brightness.
  6. Blind, then saw; again am sightless.
  7. Freedom reigned, deposed by tightness.
  8. Spirit soared; today is flightless.
Categories
Violence

Why I’ve changed my mind on gun control

Those who’ve known me for a while (especially on Facebook) will probably know that I’ve been in favour of gun control as a measure to curb gun violence.

I’ve changed my mind.

Continue reading “Why I’ve changed my mind on gun control”
Categories
Poetry

Sweet Liberty

  1. Snowy scales and cages brown.
  2. Hungry mouths, all chained and drowned.
  3. Plants at war don’t trickle down.
  4. Badges blue: the goons of crown.
  5. Lipsticked pigs in tux and gown
  6. Eat the trash, and own the town,
  7. Whip the slaves for buck and pound,
  8. Burn the trees, and suck the ground.
  9. Rainbow pins but silent sound.
  10. Fight the man, erase the brown.
  11. Stand together, gender bound
  12. Well, until the junk is found.
  13. Break the scales, the cages free.
  14. Feed the mouths, fished from the sea.
  15. Grow the plants, the bacon squee.
  16. Steal the whips, make masters plea,
  17. Flip their trough, and smash their peace.
  18. Guard the ground, protect the trees.
  19. Rainbows strong, together we
  20. Fight the man, the brown now see.
  21. Now to act, time’s passed for speech.
  22. Bring across and help them pee.
  23. Bell has rung, now class will flee.
  24. Time to take sweet liberty.
Categories
Politics

Telling people to leave if they disagree is lazy 

When you openly criticize a system you live in, eventually you hear the following: why don’t you just leave?

Continue reading “Telling people to leave if they disagree is lazy “
Categories
Racism

Hello. My name is Kim Siever. And I’m racist.

No, really.

This might come as a shock to people who actually know me well, who have seen me criticizing racist power structures that favour white people. But let me explain.

Continue reading “Hello. My name is Kim Siever. And I’m racist.”
Categories
Poetry

Bloody Feast

  1. Battered and bruised, pierced for to bleed,
  2. Hidden from view under the sheet.
  3. Plucked from the pile, dismembered feast,
  4. Onto my tongue, go skin and meat.
  5. Throw back my neck, in my throat seeps,
  6. Warm, salty, red, down my chin leaks.
  7. Blood on my lips, flesh in my teeth,
  8. Closing my eyes, bowing my knees.
  9. Promises made I cannot keep;
  10. Parroted oath, longing for deep:
  11. Never forget, memory sleeps;
  12. Obey the law, mirror the sheep.
  13. Stuck here in jail, want to be freed,
  14. Trying so hard, always too weak.
  15. Wishing to change, nowhere to seek.
  16. Hear a pin drop, never a peep.
Categories
Poetry

The Creature

  1. With each footstep of hope, descend into the hole,
  2. The water wicking up, now pulling at my soul.
  3. And flung upon my back a bag of ashen bones;
  4. The closer that I get, the louder grow their moans.
  5. I stand within the grave, a tightness in my chest,
  6. My heart beating so fast, and all I want is rest.
  7. And then I’m thrown inside, and buried while alive
  8. And I can only feel the draining of my life.
  9. But while I’m in my tomb, my skin begins to split,
  10. A thing had grown inside and now no longer fits.
  11. A creature soon comes forth, naked but clothed in blood.
  12. It takes my heart and mind, then reaches through the flood.
  13. Its hand enclasps a wrist, which holds it sure and tight.
  14. And with a pull so swift, it brings it to the light.
  15. Emerging from the crypt, the creature starts to change.
  16. Abandoning its host, freed from its fleshy cage.
  17. And then at once I see through its fresh, virgin eyes
  18. And feel its beating heart that once had beat as mine.
  19. I stood upon the grave, where I had stood before,
  20. But in a body new and different in my core.
  21. Then of a sudden flames surrounded my new flesh,
  22. Embraced me as a dove, then left me, pure and fresh.
  23. I grabbed the ferrous rod and closed the gate behind,
  24. And with my first new step, began the gruelling climb.
Categories
Poetry

The Free Market

  1. A child for your cocoa, a bombing for your crude,
  2. Orangutan for cookies, plastic for seafood,
  3. Bananas for a penny, a landslide for your gold,
  4. A peasant for your coffee, your cellphone for a soul,
  5. Blood for your engagement, a graveyard for your heat,
  6. A blind eye for your lettuce, a famine for your meat,
  7. Inferno for your blue jeans, an earthquake for your grill
  8. A sinkhole for your water, enough to make us ill.
Categories
Faith crisis poetry

The Breakup

  1. In my blood and in my veins,
  2. In my heart and in my brain,
  3. In my skin and in my hair,
  4. In my eyes and in my air.
  5. Bathed in blood and burned by dove,
  6. Washed in oil and sealed above.
  7. All my life, and who I am,
  8. Where I’ve been, and all my plan.
  9. Does that even matter now?
  10. All the sweat from off my brow?
  11. All the blood from knuckles raw?
  12. All the tears from moments saw?
  13. All the tired muscles sore?
  14. All the times I dressed for war?
  15. Just like that you break it off?
  16. Turn around and leave with scoff?
  17. Throw away the times we had:
  18. Rad and sad and glad and bad?
  19. Kick me out and change the locks?
  20. Trash the gifts with tithes I bought?
  21. All the times I’ve said it’s true.
  22. It’s not me, so must be you.