Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming Ohio Poet Devin Aeh Canary with “home sweet home.” This poem expresses heartbreak and outrage at the passage of Ohio House Bill 68 denying gender-affirming care for minors. Allies and friends offer vague encouragement, the equivalent of an “old dollar store umbrella” in the face of a lightning storm that threatens the safety and care of transgender children not just in Ohio, but across the United States and beyond. Devin visualizes this particular umbrella as a rainbow-colored construct, symbolizing the historical concept of LGBTQ+ness. This construct has been useful in the past, but consciousness is always changing and we are in need of new modes of understanding. There are many varieties of experience that remain excluded and unsupported in modern society and there is a vocal group who want to roll the protections that do exist back. “i huddle the children beneath its faded rainbow fabric and rusty wires/ as the sound of cracking draws closer.” If transgender children don’t have a safe way to access medical professionals who can speak to side-effects and risk, as well as supervise any processes, some will engage in self-harm and some will attempt suicide. Lightning will strike somewhere. The strength of the umbrella-storm metaphor is testament not only to Devin’s skill as a poet, but to her vision. This is a prophetic, activist voice, directing our attention to those who are most vulnerable. What will we do to help?
Read “home sweet home” in Synkroniciti’s “Vulnerable” issue, available for pre-order here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Devin Aeh Canary is a homeschooling mama of two and cofounder of Canary Acres Animal Sanctuary in Ohio. She was awarded the ACLU’s Courageous Advocate Award for creating and distributing an underground paper when she was in high school despite the administration’s threats to expel her. Devin is a wannabe witch who believes that words, spoken or written, can be magic spells that alter someone’s existence, for just a minute or for much longer. She believes poetry is powerful…poetry is witchcraft. You can find her on Instagram as poetry_is_witchcraft and Facebook as Devin Canary. Visit her website: https://devincanary.weebly.com/.