Poems of Exclusion

The new Exclusion Policy was leaked to social media on November 5, 2015, which labels same-sex married couples as apostates and prohibits baptism and other ordinances for their children. EmilyHB and I wrote poems soon after the event that discuss the impact of the policy on our personal lives. Today we are sharing them with our readers to commemorate the anniversary of this terrible day.

***

my Mormon dream, and getting over it.

by EmilyHB (written 13 Nov 2015)

my dream is gone and with it went my plan
to stay the course and be there for the dawn
of some great thing. but I don’t think I can,
and this because my lovely dream is gone.

a lifeboat made of little more than hope
(not watertight and also slightly frayed),
it carried me through storms and helped me cope,
and stay! of such was my good lifeboat made.

I didn’t need the ocean to be true.
the faith (and miracles it would precede)
were not my gift; the hope would have to do.
my dream is gone, and that I didn’t need.

whether it is true or whether counterfeit,
still the work to do is getting over it.

***

Dear God, I’m a zombie

by Nancy Ross (written November 11, 2015)

Dear God,
I’m a zombie.
I have wandered through my week
With a slowness I don’t fully comprehend
Distracted by the pain in my mind
Not picking up on the details of life
And dragging my feet at home and at work.
Please bring me back to life.

Please help me to love my neighbor.
I’m worried that when she finds out who I am
And that I will leave our beloved church
That will be the end of friendship
And children playing together.

Please be with me when I leave.
Please continue to watch over my children,
And my husband and myself.
Please don’t abandon us
Wherever we go.
Amen.