Honey Novick
(this poem will be the centrepiece of the next issue of The Banished Poets Society)
For The Principled, The Innocents, The Banished
To banish
To ban
To ban is the same thing as to be banished
Being banished is being banned, it is an act of control
One trying to control another
It comes in many flavors, banishment
Family shunning, banishing one another
Work places
Friends no longer friends
I have been banished by my family
I’m different, “smart”, unwed, childless,
It is almost a relief, in my case
however
To be banned is to banish
To ban is the same thing as to be banished
Being banished is being banned
It is a control “thing”
History is wrought with the banned, the banished, the decision to distance
.
Johnny Cash famously banned from the Grand Ole Opry in 1965
He was drunk, went on a rampage, drug induced
Smashing stage lights with a microphone stand during a performance,
he was a rebel but his addiction and frustration weren’t understood
he couldn’t articulate what he saw and felt, so he acted out
eventually he was welcomed back after cleaning up
later he turned his defiance into an art form, a statement
my favorite was his being banned by radio stations over his
recording of the thought-provoking songs like "The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Ethel Rosenberg, accused by the USA government of spying for Russia,
jailed and then executed
even though there is proof she was innocent
her banishment was deadly
Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel were banished from late night TV
they make people laugh and think
what is the true meaning of truth?
Book banning has become the sport of the uneducated, arrogant and spiteful
books make children and other people, think, question, express and curious
The displaced ordinary citizens of Sudan, that is an inexorable banishment
Those accused and imprisoned for being wrongfully accused of murder
To ban is the same thing as to be banished
Being banished is being banned, it is an act of control
Like the colonial adventurers and usurpers
Add your own names and causes to this list
1. Sign says: “Do Not Buy Goods From Israel”
I look down at my comfortable, stylish, warm Naot boots made in Israel
I understand the sentiment… what the current Israeli government is doing to the Palestinian
people is a genocide. I won’t add my name to that but I will not punish a whole lot
of people because their government is cruel. I won’t do that to the Americans either.
How can I banish whole groups of people by painting them all with the same brush
2. When little, I was given several lovely dolls, to celebrate my birthday
I couldn’t find them to play with. My mother, in her own well-meaning way
gave them away because we didn’t have money to buy presents for other
kids celebrating birthdays. I was angry. It wasn’t fair. It isn’t fair. They were not
hers to give away. I didn’t know how to say anything but I learned about fairness
I hope my sense of fairness will guide my morality to the future and forever
And I have been tested including one time the CBC wouldn’t play my song “Bank Of Love” saying it was too suggestive. Yes, it was…yes, it is
3. Angela Davis says, “A woman who knows her voice is dangerous only to systems built on her silence.” She, a professor, not only was banished, but jailed as she supported a man fighting for the rights of others of color, civil rights, human rights
To ban is the same thing as to be banished
Being banished is being banned. It is an arrogant act of control
4 Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Awardee was and is a prominent critic of
the then Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte
She was arrested
her conviction was seen by many as politically motivated
It is her mission to safeguard freedom of expression
5 Buffy Ste. Marie Phew, Buffy, brilliant, courageous, controversial banished from public appearances, accused of being “Pretendian”, distrusted, aggrieved
I believe and support her. She said her “growing up mother” told her she “was adopted and that she was native but there was no documentation as was common for indigenous children born in the 1940s”.
I was Buffy’s gofer, 1965, at the Mariposa Folk Festival. Her pain is immeasurable. Her contributions, IMHO, are invaluable. I loved her immediately. The love has never waivered
6. Pete Seeger a brilliant songwriter, social justice activist wasn’t physically "banished" from the United States, but he was blacklisted from American radio and television for years
He was open about social justice issues, humanism, and
his political affiliations during the McCarthy years.
When the Smothers Brothers invited him onto their television show in the 1970s,
he sang “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” a song about war.
This was during the Viet Nam War era. This eventually cost the Smothers Brothers their show.
In 1999, I was asked to organize a UNESCO endeavor called “New Songs for Peace”. It was an honour and daunting. I contacted Pete who encouraged me by saying, “start off small. Contact those you know and then widen the circle”..I never forgot those words of wisdom
To ban is the same thing as to be banished
Being banished is being banned. It IS the arrogant act of one debasing another
7. "Trail of Tears" was the forced removal of approximately 60,000 Native Americans
from the "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Muscogee/Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw)
by the U.S. government between 1830 and 1850. This action is described as a forced exile from their homelands in the Southeast to an "Indian Territory" in what is now Oklahoma
8. Some generations of First Nations children have never known clean running tap water
Mankind’s inhumanity is a choice based on an experience
fueled by education resulting in a world that understands
all life is sacred and must be respected. When the water is no longer
easily available and the air no longer easily breathable, will that be the time to look at
what we have and what we want
we will get that respect, camaraderie, community, good living conditions by working and living respectfully, together with our Earth Mother
OH WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN? OH WHEN WILL WE LEARN?
