"Denim to Lace" by Greg OlsenTwo Poems on Transgenderism by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society April 21, 2021 Culture, Poetry 78 Comments . A Chemistry Lesson There was a time she pined to be a boy, Around the age of six or maybe eight, When centipedes and beetles were her joy And skinning knees in trees, her frequent fate. There was a time she longed for hair so short No brush would tear and tug at tangled knots. Her irksome dolls would draw a scornful snort; She’d swap them all for sparring BattleBots. There was a time she didn’t want to be With loutish lads—those bullish, brawling brats. In dizzy dreams, she breathed the ecstasy Of fragrant girls with politesse and plaits. There was a time she feared the scarlet bloom And rage and rip of pain bestowed by birth. She cursed the hefty burden of her womb Until she knew its wonder and her worth. There was a time she found her mind had lied. She felt a rush and blush so lush and keen— A call to gifts that wouldn’t be denied— A tug to all her heart had not foreseen… A pull that led to him, a pledge, a son. A love that sent confusion on its way. A life she wasn’t meant to spurn or shun In times when science didn’t pry or prey. In her day puberty was never prone To being blocked for thoughts not fully grown. . . A Prayer for Sanity Please spare us from the doctrine of the sick Who tell us right is wrong and wrong is right, That gender is a trait our kids can pick And hormone blockers are the guiding light. Are children’s brains so crystal-clear and bright They know their mind and body’s every trick? No! Lies are told to lure each muddled mite— Please spare us from the doctrine of the sick. Deliver us from hacks and quacks who kick All tried and tested truth plain out of sight— That settled-science, social-justice clique Who tell us right is wrong and wrong is right. Please save us from satanic dogma’s blight That hits us like a stray Antifa brick, And all those shills who sell the vile soundbite That gender is a trait our kids can pick. Please cast out experts pushing wicked schtick Then reveling with devilish delight— The cons who claim castration’s mighty slick And hormone blockers are the guiding light. Pray let us find the fortitude to fight The gospel of the preachy lunatic Pronouncing chromosomes are there to spite The grand transgender plans of good Old Nick. Please spare us! . . Susan Jarvis Bryant is a church secretary and poet whose homeland is Kent, England. She is now an American citizen living on the coastal plains of Texas. Susan has poetry published in the UK webzine, Lighten Up On Line, The Daily Mail, and Openings (anthologies of poems by Open University Poets). NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Trending now: 78 Responses Paul Erlandson April 21, 2021 Susan, These are wonderful! Crafted with so much care and skill. “A Chemistry Lesson”, especially, seems honed to perfection, lovely and right in every regard — with a rich vocabulary, and yet a natural flow that I can only describe (in hindsight, of course) as being inevitable. Meaning that this is a poem which HAD to exist. Thanks for making it so! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Paul, thank you very much for your encouraging comment. As you say, this poem had to exist… the subject matter has been calling out to me for some time now… I had to wait until all the right words came along and, luckily, they did. Your support is much appreciated. Reply jd April 21, 2021 Hi Susan, Enjoyed both. I don’t think I’ve ever read one of your poems that wasn’t well-crafted and on point. Just wanted to alert you to the fact that a few of the words in the second poem have run together in computerly dispersal. Reply Mike Bryant April 21, 2021 JD, I have the exact problem on my older iPad. Theyknow on line 6. tolureeach on line 8. Theconswho and claimcastration’s on line 19. I wonder if you are using an older iPad, like me, because Susan’s newer iPad doesn’t have that problem. Thanks, maybe we can get this bug fixed. I wonder if anyone else has this problem. If you do please let me know the type of computer, phone or tablet you’re using along with the operating system. Thanks. Reply jd April 21, 2021 Hi Mike, I am using a MacBook Pro, probably 6 years old, with High Sierra 10.13.6. I never imagined it could be on my end although it makes sense as I’m sure Susan is very careful about what goes out. Mike Bryant April 21, 2021 JD, please refresh the page I think we may have stumbled onto a fix. Also, I wonder if your problem was exactly the same as I had. Thanks so much. Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 jd, so sorry you have been having trouble with the words. I had no idea my poems would cause angst for technical reasons… they usually cause angst for every other reason but. lol. I very much appreciate you dropping by to read and to comment so favorably. It’s voices like yours that give me the courage to continue on my poetic quest to call out injustices. Who would have thought “social justice” meant life-changing decisions being made by children before their minds and bodies are ready to realize the full implications of these decisions? It’s those awful modifiers like “social” before the word “justice” that enable justice to be manipulated into any shape the ruling class decide is the fad of the moment. Reply Joe Tessitore April 21, 2021 These are brilliant and beautiful, perceptive and thoughtful, and I could go on and on! On a technical note, only you could pen a line like “She felt a rush and blush so lush …” and make it work and read as smoothly as anything I’ve ever read. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Joe, your lovely comment has made my day! As you well know, it’s pretty hard to make such a tough subject aesthetically appealing. I find it easy get a serious point across with humor, but, for me, it’s not quite so easy to do it on a serious note. I am thrilled my poetic efforts paid off and the message is still clear. Thank you for your appreciation and your constant inspiration and encouragement. Reply Julian D. Woodruff April 21, 2021 I’m reminded slightly of Porter’s “urge to merge with a splurge.” Reply Sally Cook April 21, 2021 Dear Susan – Competent, well-crafted, but more than that — you are saying things that have to be said, and said well. Your talents, approach to todays’s insanity and, yes, evil, is both measured and all encompassing – you have connected the dots! Though we go different ways as poets, we see and abhor the same things. I am proud to know you! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Dame Sally, I thank you wholeheartedly for your clear, concise, thoughtful and beautiful comment. I am over the moon my words reach out with their message and that they’re understood. Our poetry may differ, but our hearts dance to the same music… I am proud to know you and join you in life’s tempestuous tango. Reply Gail April 21, 2021 Dear Susan, These are right on the mark. Your exposition and elucidation of normal childhood confusion and fear regarding unbidden and unrelenting physical and emotional changes is the understanding many who would be parents lack, and so fail to parent at all. We all know people who have offspring, but never become parents. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Thank you, Gail. The sad and wicked thing in today’s society is that the ruling class own our children. If those parents who really do care, and relate to all those things my poem mentions, they have no power to prevent their child’s decision go along with the authorities that deem it fit to go ahead with hormone replacement therapy. In fact, Robert Hoogland, a father in Canada, was arrested for calling his biological female child “daughter” – one of the dreadful deeds that inspired these poems. It’s getting seriously scary out there. Reply BRIAN YAPKO April 21, 2021 Susan, you’ve done an absolutely brilliant job of taking a hot-button, complicated issue and distilling it into its poetic essence. As often happens, your beautifully-crafted (dare I say brave?) poems entertain me while making me think hard and maybe suffer a little anxiety along the way. I think that’s what great poetry should do, so bravo! From a content standpoint, that people can think a child is even remotely capable of making a decision that is irrevocable and life-altering is beyond me. And to yank all of society into a world where gender means nothing. — including our pronouns, our bathrooms, our sports — based on 100% subjectivity coupled with a diagnosis that is, in truth, vanishingly rare, seems the height of folly and cynical social engineering. Chromosomes are what they are. Gender is real. Not only real, essential to all of nature. In a dystopian world, “right is wrong and wrong is right indeed.” History will laugh at us. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Brian, you always manage to explain exactly what I want to say in intelligent, eloquent language that gets straight to the core of my poetic efforts. When you do that, it tells me I’ve got the message out there, and for that I’m wholly grateful. I am with you all the way on the pronouns, bathrooms, sports, and rendering gender meaningless front. This is being done in every area of our society – “racism” is now a meaningless, throw-away term for absolutely everything deemed non-PC and offensive to those who make the ever-changing rules. I used to laugh at the ridiculousness of all of this. That was before it came into being. I’m not laughing now, though I wholeheartedly agree with you – future generations will be laughing at our sheep-like idiocy. Thank you for spotting the bravery… I will admit to having to summon up a bit of extra strength to air my views in such a bold manner. That’s why your inspiration and support mean everything. Reply Julian D. Woodruff April 21, 2021 Both very good, Susan. The first seems a bit more restrained and poised than the second, which shows your characteristic “let it rip” virtuosity. To me, this issue does not involve only foisting abusive (ruinous is not too strong a term) advice, hormones, and surgery on immature and confused kids. The attitude, which supports a growing, many-armed industry, is one that views the body as a possession and commodity: “our bodies, our selves” was the related feminist rallying cry that prefaced and sustained the ongoing abortion holocaust. “Sex change,” “gender migration, “genital mutilation,” whatever you want to call it, is no more legitimate for adults than for kids, and efforts to defend and justify it are an outrageous assault on healthy thinking about human life and conditions. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Julian, thank you very much for your encouraging and perspicacious comment. You are spot with your observations on the first poem showing restraint and the second letting rip. I wanted to put forth two different perspectives – looking calmly at the child-to-adult changes and the implications of a life lost with “scientific” intervention. And the second, the anger of all those who think our children are precious gifts that need our care and guidance… and I mean the care and guidance that leads them to make their own sensible decisions as fully grown adults. You make an excellent point on today’s society veering towards viewing the body as “a possession and commodity” – this is exactly what China does. I suppose, it’s inevitable that this is the road mapped out for us by all those increasingly rich politicians, big tech companies, pharmaceutical companies, big businesses etc. who depend upon China for their lavish lifestyles. Reply Mike Bryant April 21, 2021 Susan, you’ve always had a terrible compulsion to tell the truth along with a wicked way with words. That’s why I just had to marry you. Brian said that you’re brave. If he only knew how brave you really are. I can imagine poets here at SCP that would and have said the controversial things that you have, but I have a feeling that few would post it to their own Facebook page. Evan is one of those few and I’m sure there are others here who won’t let their voices be stifled. As for Your poems… always beautiful, always thoughtful, and always true… just like You are. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Aww, thank you, Mike! Your support is pivotal to my poetry… that along with enduring all my funny British foibles. As for Facebook… I’m in the process of transferring all my postings to MeWe… Facebook has been far too large for far too long. I just wanted to go out with a bang before I’m banned! 🙂 Reply Gail April 21, 2021 MeWe? Hmm! Going to have to check into that. Facebook booted me the other day. I was too obscure. Joseph S. Salemi April 21, 2021 In the current political situation, it takes tremendous courage and intestinal fortitude to publish two forthright poems such as these. The transgender freaks are going to freak out. Be prepared. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Joe S., thank you for this. I will admit to never being quite prepared for the vitriol of those who cannot and will not tolerate a viewpoint that veers from the constant mindless mantra force fed to us from every conceivable angle… I quake a little, but I simply can’t deny my gut instinct and drive to get a rational viewpoint out there. I know it’s cost me “friends” but, hey, who wants friends who believe in chemically castrating children? And, who wants friends who have been telling children for decades, no more snow, and the polar bears are headed for extinction. Those kids have grandkids now and the snow and polar bears are more abundant than ever. I’d rather have a G & T with a good poetry book in isolation than have the in-crowd round for afternoon tea! Reply Jeff Eardley April 21, 2021 Susan, a touchy subject that you have expressed so well with these two. We expect no less from you. I blame Johnny Cash (Boy named Sue) , The Who (I’m a boy) and the Kinks (Lola) for starting all this nonsense. Heaven forbid this doesn’t start to infect the Army. It would be sad to have most of the Privates with none of the parts. Reply Julian D. Woodruff April 21, 2021 I didn’t suspect Johnny Cash expected us to take this rot seriously, but what do I know? Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Jeff, this is hilarious! Over here, the US military pays for sex change operations, so your “Privates with none of the parts” is, in fact, true. And, as for Johnny Cash et al, they were as prophetic as Orwell. What a strange world we inhabit. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 To save any confusion, my opinion on adults wishing to have a sex change is irrelevant. The only time it becomes relevant is if taxpayers are expected to pay for this procedure and transgenders join the military because the procedure is “free.” Reply Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 As usual Susan, you’re a treasure trove of well-crafted poetry. But if I may quibble, I do believe that the the final line: In her day puberty was never prone To being blocked for thoughts not fully grown. should have ‘by’ as the preposition instead of ‘for’ But then, I also believe Shakespeare’s lines should read: “I could be bound in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not I have bad dreams.” instead of “bounded in a nutshell” Do I dare disturb the universe? I’m sure Bill will forgive me. What about you? Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Frank, thank you so much for your comment. Just to make it clear on the for/by front – I’m talking about a drug called a puberty blocker. They are used by doctors because of (for) the childish thoughts of kids. I hope that makes sense. If not, I am quite happy to reconsider my closing couplet… I’m certainly no Shakespeare 😉 With much gratitude, as ever. Reply Michael Curtis April 21, 2021 Well said. Well done. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Thank you very much, Michael – much appreciated. Reply Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 Thanks Susan. I guess I misunderstood. But the line is ambiguous in any case. “I’m talking about a drug called a puberty blocker. They are used by doctors because of (for) the childish thoughts of kids.” SO: In her day puberty was never prone To being blocked (I see, by doctors because of and thus for) for thoughts not fully grown. I thought it meant “In her day” puberty was not resisted by children who were afraid of it. Anyway, I’m quibbling. Can I also ask, as someone who wrote many sonnets, why present day writers insist on capitalizing every opening line whether it starts a new sentence or not? I mean it gives an archaic look to lines (especially in your poetry where I can’t recall an inversion such as “The beautiful way she cooks, I love” instead of “I love the beautiful way she cooks”) that read very colloquially otherwise. Sorry for this convoluted sentence. But I would write: “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May and summer’s lease has all too short a date” instead of capitalizing And- I think it does a well-crafted poem an injustice – anyway to each his own. Doth thou not agree? LOL! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Frank, I can see my closing couplet needs work. As I’ve said before, I always consider my poems a work in progress and I love editing, so I’ll be euphoric this weekend. Thank you! As for the capitalizing question, I never used to capitalize for the simple reason that I thought it made it easier for a reader to recite a poem if the poem flowed in natural sentences… but, I’ve since changed my mind due to the arguments put forth by the admirable sonneteer, Peter Hartley, and the esteemed and superb poet Dr. Salemi. Both know far more than I do when it comes to formal poetry. Take a look at the discussion on one of my poems below (link provided). If I feel it serves a poem better to leave the first letter of each line in lower case, I will… I am but a novice and always open to suggestion. https://classicalpoets.org/2020/08/24/in-memory-of-my-grandmother-by-susan-jarvis-bryant/ Reply Lois April 21, 2021 Awesome! Wow! Thank you! I’m forwarding these to many people. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Wonderful news, Lois! We need to get the word out there… our children are too precious to be owned by the state. Thank you very much! Reply Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 Susan, thanks. My God, your 8/25/20 comment to Peter Hartley could have come out of my mouth. It’s exactly as I would put it. GBS wrote: “The only rules is that there are no rules.” And I will go to my grave (which may not be too far off!) certain that capitals at beginning lines of poetry is as absurd as Thou and Thee. Because Haydn opens his symphonies with an introduction, Beethoven must put one before the Eroica symphony? Ravel has to write a piano concerto like Brahms? I still say your poetry is too good to be using first line caps. “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action,” a poet once wrote. I still think capital lower case letters are jarring and archaic. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 I hear you, Frank, and think you make a valid point. The reason I am happy to adopt the capitals at the beginning of each line is the thought that if we are on this site to preserve classical poetry, form is an integral part, and capital letters are an integral part of form. However, the language in the body of the poem is a very different animal. I don’t like archaic language or inversions (sometimes inevitable) unless it’s for comedic effect. As I said before, I always take on the advice of those who know better… including you, Frank. I’ll be working on that closing couplet this weekend. Reply Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 Thanks Susan. And since you are British, I believe, can I ask why police can’t stop the guy bothering poor Lily Allen, whom I love. I hear now she’s running a used clothing shop. Sorry for breaking protocol here. I promise I won’t do it again. Or you can just ignore me. I’d understand. Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Frank, the British police were unable to stop child sexual exploitation in Rotherham for over twenty years, so I’m not surprised Lily Allen had a raw deal. The UK is a little ahead of the USA in the reassignment of police priorities. Law enforcement is far too busy looking for hate crimes on social media to worry about life-threatened celebrities or raped schoolgirls, I’m sorry to say. Welcome to the new world order! 🙂 David Watt April 22, 2021 Susan, ‘A Prayer for Sanity’ has the perfect title to complement its forthright content. The fashion of promoting the exploitation of young minds and bodies is just that-insane. Thanks for always telling it like it is, in your entertaining manner. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 22, 2021 David, thank you for your continued support and insightful comment. As you can see, I’m still writing political poetry. My yoga mat is gathering dust in the cupboard! I simply can’t help myself. Reply Martin Rizley April 22, 2021 These are great poems, Susan, so timely, so well-written, so passionate in feeling, and so true! Thank you for sharing them with us, as I will share them with others. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 22, 2021 Martin, it’s always lovely to hear from you. I know our hearts beat to the same tune, and to hear you are spreading my poetic efforts to keep the truth out there has heartened me more than you can imagine. Any harm threatening our children should never slink under the radar. Reply Yael April 22, 2021 Wow Susan, way to go! You tackled the touchiest of subjects with bravery and fortitude while using the sweetest and lightest touch imaginable. Both poems are a delight to read. I’m impressed with your choice of words which weave the verbal equivalent of a fine and colorful tapestry featuring sublime vistas. A Chemistry Lesson is my favorite, simply because it speaks directly to my own experience as a pre-teen girl. Thank God there were no gender-bender predators around when I went through that confusing phase in my life. A Prayer for Sanity is a necessary addition and I’m glad you are praying it. Thanks to your inspiration I will be praying for it too. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 22, 2021 Yael, thank you very much for this wonderful, and, dare I say it – poetic comment. You have a beautiful way with words. I’m looking forward to reading your first poem. 🙂 You have tapped into the very heart of my poetry with complete understanding. I can relate to your pre-teen years because the girl in the poem is me. It chills me to think that my whole life could have been ruined because of the innocent and confused thoughts and desires I had. My prayer poem is the maternal side of me standing up for all of those vulnerable children out there. We are living in wicked times. Thank you for your prayers, Yael. Reply wayne frazier April 24, 2021 Proverbs 25:12 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Well done Susan, well done! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 28, 2021 I am honored to receive this beautiful comment – thank you very much, Wayne. Reply Dave Whippman April 25, 2021 Well said Susan, you’re a voice of sanity. I’ve seen plenty of items on kids who would probably have been ok if the “experts” hadn’t got their hands on them. There was a joke doing the rounds when I was a psychi nurse: If things get worse for this guy, we may have to stop helping him… Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 28, 2021 Dave, I’m heartened to hear that I’m ‘a voice of sanity’. As far as “experts” and children go, these days I worry terribly. Your joke says it all – I fear many a true word really is spoken in jest. Thank you very much for your insightful comment. Reply Robert James Liguori April 28, 2021 Two of the best poems I have ever read. Thank you for sharing. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant April 28, 2021 Robert, thank you for your most encouraging comment – I’m thrilled you appreciated my poems. Reply B May 1, 2021 That last line of A Chemistry Lesson is going to stay with me forever. Historic! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 1, 2021 B, thank you for dropping by and thank you for your comment – I’m glad my words made an impression. It’s such a tough subject that certainly needs addressing. Reply JD Clifton May 11, 2021 Susan thank you so much for your bravery. I really like the line about how we shouldn’t validate kids’ thoughts or feelings. As a man myself I am so thankful for the many relationships I had growing up with healthy and well-adjusted adult males who were deeply in touch with their own internal lives, and would make sure I never expressed mine. Thank the Lord I had them to let me know to shut my mouth when I shared my own feelings or cried, which I liked to do a lot especially when Jeff Gordon would lose a NASCAR race. I really liked how his car had all those colors, but now I know that those were just my stupid confused homosexual kid thoughts. Thank God that bud got stamped out early in life. One time I asked my Aunt Jean if she needed help in the kitchen before a family dinner and my grandpa chucked his can of Old Milwakee at my head and told me to sit down and watch Dale Earnhardt like a man. Gosh I was a confused kid. Imagine if I had been allowed to meet scientists when I was a youth! I mean they might have warned me about the dangers of diabetes, and I might still have my left foot, but I’m free and I can eat funnel cakes for lunch and breakfast if I want, and not be a woman. Speaking of being a woman, I think maybe your poem forgot to mention how when that girl was young she wanted to write classical poetry and then later realized that was only for dudes and she was cool with the gift of only being able to read poetry and not write it. Well, I guess she could have also been a spinster who lived in her attic, but I don’t know too much about this stuff, I’m just starting out. Thanks for teaching me what poetry is all about and remember to suffer the children to come to Jesus, which I think means drag our “gay” kids to conversion therapy even if they are crying, begging us not to, and threatening suicide, cause we all know our fairy, lily-picking kids don’t have the guts to go through with it. And if they did it’d be the liberals’ and BLM’s fault not ours. Sorry your dad named you Susan bro, but glad you got on the right track! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 11, 2021 JD, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your observations on my poems. Firstly, I’d like to make one aspect of my poems (the ONLY aspect) crystal clear. The poems are about authorities sexualizing children. Grooming children. Encouraging children to explore their pre-pubescent sexuality. Coercing children into making a life-changing decision about their gender before they’ve had the chance to grow up… and by “grow up”, I mean to experience life with a mature mind and, most importantly, a mature body that’s been allowed to develop naturally without the sick interference of chemical castration. A five year old barely understands the difference between the two sexes, and as you’ve brought science into the discussion, chromosomes biologically prove there are ONLY TWO SEXES. Please don’t insult my intelligence by denying the science. I believe in the science! These poems have nothing to do with religion. They have everything to do with highlighting the perverted minds of those who think that mutilating children’s bodies will bring them lifelong fulfillment. It’s a wicked and destructive lie that all those transgenders who have committed suicide after this mutilation would gladly tell you if they were still alive. Look up the suicide statistics – 95% of those who have gone through with the procedure of changing sex want the procedure reversed, but, sadly when a penis or breasts are removed… it’s a bit of a tough challenge to restore them to their former glory. Those sick perverts pushing transgenderism aren’t the only voices speaking on behalf of our children… let’s hope more people stand up to speak out for our children before those wielding the puberty blockers and scalpels do their worst. I wish you a good day and thank you for highlighting just why our children need the voice of sanity to speak up. I’ll let the readers decide whether that’s my voice or yours. Reply Gail May 11, 2021 That was hilarious. Whatever else it may have been . . . sincere? . . . confused? . . . facetious? I don’t know and can’t tell. Reckless abandon, indeed! Reply Brooke May 12, 2021 hi susan, i saw in a comment you said there are only two sexes, which is correct. but gender? doesn’t even exist. there is nothing in our biological makeup that makes men like women, cars and football. there’s nothing in our biological makeup that makes women like men, dresses and cooking. it’s really that simple. it’s not perverse to tell kids they don’t have to fit in a box, when we literally made the box up. explain to me how it’s pushing sexuality on to kids when someone says “you don’t have to be what society expects you to”, but it’s NOT pushing sexuality onto kids when someone says “you’re a girl because you have a uterus, also you like boys and will give them children” like susan?? how is saying “be yourself i support you” perverse but literally choosing and enforcing a sexuality isn’t? Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, read my first poem. I’m saying children should be themselves. They shouldn’t have to fit a typical male/female stereotype. My entire point is that these days, if girls and boys don’t fit the stereotype they are in danger of being coerced into taking hormone blockers. Just because boys don’t have typical masculine traits doesn’t mean they’re girls and just because girls don’t have typical feminine traits doesn’t mean they’re boys. In a nutshell, if anyone decides to tread the hormone/surgery path they should make that decision as an adult not be coerced into it while still a child. Children shouldn’t make life-changing decisions concerning their bodies… they should be left to mature physically and mentally first. Reply Brooke May 12, 2021 Susan, due to the fact that gender does not exist i don’t see why it matters if kids chose a gender not assigned to them. hormone blockers aren’t a bad thing, and if they regret it they can just take hormones. again, there’s nothing in our biological makeup that determines gender so if a kid decides they’d like to be a gender opposite of them and even take hormone blockers, i don’t see why that’s an issue. it’s just as much of a decision to let hormones run their course as it is to block them. you’re deciding either way. kids should know they have a choice. also i’ve never heard of a kid coerced into hormones? letting kids know that it’s okay to not be their assigned gender is not the same thing as making a kid take hormones. it’s important to be informed and make informed decisions. i also agree that boys don’t have to have typical masculine traits and girls don’t have to have typical feminine traits, but it’s also okay to change your assigned gender all together if it doesn’t feel right. Brooke May 12, 2021 to rephrase, in case you didn’t understand that, it’s just as much a decision to go through with bodily hormones as it is to block them. we’re just finally giving kids a choice. it’s reversible, in case they aren’t satisfied, and it’s 100% okay for everyone of any age to explore their gender identity and not just go with what false science and traditions say. Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, I don’t think anyone should be stereotyped. Every person is an individual in their own right. What I am objecting to is children being told they have access to drugs to change their physical make-up. How can pre-pubescent children, who haven’t experienced a grown body with all the physical, hormonal, and emotional changes that go with it, decide that he/she wants to change their physical make-up to resemble the opposite sex when they haven’t experienced their own sex to it’s fullest degree? What I’m saying is puberty blockers should never be given to children. Puberty blockers aren’t candy – they’re potent mind-altering, body altering drugs. What if a child wants candy for his dinner every night… should he have that choice? What if a child wants to pet a rattlesnake… should she have that choice? What if a child thinks he can fly… should he be able to test this out from a 20th floor balcony? Children have no experience of life and the consequences of such decisions. That’s why there are laws in place to protect them from pedophilia. If they’re too young to have a sexual relationship under the age of eighteen, how is it that they’re old enough to decide what sex they want to be before they’ve gone through puberty? Brooke May 12, 2021 susan, all of the things you described were dangerous. but hormone therapy is not dangerous. i agree that hormone therapy should not be handed to children like candy, but if a child comes to their parent and tells them that they’re transgender, i don’t see why hormone therapy would be a problem. i agree that there should be an age limit to hormone therapy, like say 12 or 13, so this means informing kids from an early age what gender is. if you think that the child would not be sure or change their minds, then the way to go is the education about gender to children so that they can be 100% sure what confuses kids is that a gender is being enforced, being told there are options isn’t confusing. again, hormone therapy is easily reversible and not at all dangerous. Brooke May 12, 2021 to rephrase again, because i know i’m all over the place, eliminating gender as something that’s enforced would end the confusion, i’m sure. kids would just be themselves and take hormone therapy if they’d like. getting kids out of this brainwashing of “you’re a boy, you’re a girl” will take generations, so it’s not an immediate solution. an immediate solution would just be to listen when a kid has dysphoria and support them. people really do know themselves the best. and if you’re wondering how many adults regret the transition they had as a kid, it’s less than 2%. Brooke May 12, 2021 actually it’s 8% of adults transition and regret it, my bad. should we deny 92% of people the right to be themselves? Mike Bryant May 12, 2021 From someone that has insider info: https://quillette.com/2020/01/02/the-ranks-of-gender-detransitioners-are-growing-we-need-to-understand-why/ Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, “hormone therapy” is a blanket term that covers treatment for many things, including growth, menopause, etc. etc. I am talking about puberty suppression, which is one of the many types of hormone therapy. The side effects are numerous, dangerous and horrifying. It causes depression, and physical and sexual impairments that are irreversible, including infertility. No child should make that decision. Read my first poem again. If I had made that choice as a child, it would have ruined my life. I am glad I had a family and friends around me to support my boyish ways without telling me that I had the option of being a boy… I would have said “Yes”. Brooke May 12, 2021 Susan, I’m happy that you’re secure in your gender now, but you cannot speak for all of transgender people because of your experience. your case is a rarity. an overwhelming majority are happy with their choice to transition, because they were sure of themselves. i don’t know if you felt you were trans/gay still when you were 13, or how sure you were, but most people that get puberty blockers are very sure of themselves and have felt that way for a while. Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, to get back to my original point, girls are girls and boys are boys, whatever feminine or masculine traits they may exhibit. This biological given should NEVER be experimented with… especially in still developing children. I have a feeling we are not going to agree on this, so I will stop here. Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, this is my last post on this… I will give you the courtesy of a reply to your question about me. At the age of thirteen, I thought I preferred girls based on the fact that most of the boys in my class only came up to my shoulder, didn’t smell too good and were obnoxious. At that time, I hadn’t started my period and my own natural hormones hadn’t kicked in. I may have thought I wanted to be a boy based on my silly, immature premise alone. I’m glad I lived in an age where I didn’t have that choice. I was too naive to be given that choice – it would have ruined my chances of being happy and being a mother. Please click on the link Mike Bryant has posted above. It may help you see where I’m coming from. The Society May 12, 2021 Dear Brooke and everyone else in these comments, We will not have people saying that women can call themselves men or vice versa. Your comments may be deleted or you may be banned. It is a sickness and is self-destructive. What science can and cannot prove is, at a certain point, irrelevant. There are plenty of opportunities for different interests. Handel’s operas, for instance, have many castrato parts suitable for relatively effeminate men or women to play. But when people start messing up their own fundamental gender, or sex, then they indeed have a mental issue and are, frankly, less clearheaded than children. In the Eastern tradition, there is a clear differentiation between the yin (female) and yang (male), and in the Western tradition we have a clear differentiation going back to Adam and Eve, or Zeus and Hera if you prefer. Evan Mantyk, Editor Reply Gail May 12, 2021 Evan, I’m relieved to see your response. Are there guidelines written somewhere on the site? It would be reassuring to read them if there are. Thank you! –G The Society May 12, 2021 Gail, There are not. This is the kind of thing I thought I would never have to say. The way things are going, pretty soon I’ll have to say no advocating child porn and consensual man-boy-love. What once was obvious now seems unclear. Regarding another of your comments, Darwin is indeed a significant source of these problem. Good point. -Evan Christopher Chellsen May 13, 2021 Evan, you are aware of the origins of ‘castrato’, correct? The church-sanctioned practice of castrating pre-adolescent choir boys so their voices wouldn’t change and they would maintain their higher pitch range? I’m just saying that’s an odd thing to bring up as a justification for why people should not believe in the science of transgenderism. I fully expect you to delete this comment because you disagree with it, but sir, you are an intellectual fraud and the bigotry run rampant on this site is an embarrassment to poets everywhere. The Society May 13, 2021 Dear Christopher, I love Handel’s music, so it came to mind. People may have diverse tastes. That’s the point. Gender/sex, however, is immutable. The castratos were always regarded as boys, not girls. It’s not so hard to understand, right? Poets everywhere have been enjoying the SCP’s website, so I’m not sure what you are referring to exactly. Certainly transgenderism is an embarrassment to humanity itself. If you don’t want to have a civil discussion and want to act like a bigot in your manner, then, yes, your comments may indeed be deleted. -Evan Mantyk Mike Bryant May 12, 2021 I love the poems because they are beautiful and true and loving. Putting sex and gender into a bit of historical perspective: https://www.heritage.org/gender/report/sex-gender-and-the-origin-the-culture-wars-intellectual-history Reply Gail May 12, 2021 Thanks, Mike! Did not read every word–the repetitive pattern of the thinking in the development of the movement is very readily apparent. They missed the biggest cause right at the outset. Darwin actually started the whole mess by compromising the truth of Scripture with his theories. A very big lie propounding more of the same. Reply Mike Bryant May 30, 2021 Susan, it looks like America is waking up! https://thenewamerican.com/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-trans-lies-60-minutes-tackles-big-gender/ Reply Mike Bryant July 25, 2024 “I’ve never seen anything worse than what’s happening right now. And that includes the sorts of things that were done in the camps in Germany. At least the goddamn Nazis admitted what they did was wrong. They tried to hide it. We trumpet it as a moral virtue… These surgical procedures are so brutal and so experimental that they’re—I’m going to say it again—they’re worse than what the Mengele types did in the concentration camps in the thirties and forties. And that’s a pretty goddamn low bar.” -Dr. Jordan Peterson 7/25/2024 Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Paul Erlandson April 21, 2021 Susan, These are wonderful! Crafted with so much care and skill. “A Chemistry Lesson”, especially, seems honed to perfection, lovely and right in every regard — with a rich vocabulary, and yet a natural flow that I can only describe (in hindsight, of course) as being inevitable. Meaning that this is a poem which HAD to exist. Thanks for making it so! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Paul, thank you very much for your encouraging comment. As you say, this poem had to exist… the subject matter has been calling out to me for some time now… I had to wait until all the right words came along and, luckily, they did. Your support is much appreciated. Reply
jd April 21, 2021 Hi Susan, Enjoyed both. I don’t think I’ve ever read one of your poems that wasn’t well-crafted and on point. Just wanted to alert you to the fact that a few of the words in the second poem have run together in computerly dispersal. Reply
Mike Bryant April 21, 2021 JD, I have the exact problem on my older iPad. Theyknow on line 6. tolureeach on line 8. Theconswho and claimcastration’s on line 19. I wonder if you are using an older iPad, like me, because Susan’s newer iPad doesn’t have that problem. Thanks, maybe we can get this bug fixed. I wonder if anyone else has this problem. If you do please let me know the type of computer, phone or tablet you’re using along with the operating system. Thanks. Reply
jd April 21, 2021 Hi Mike, I am using a MacBook Pro, probably 6 years old, with High Sierra 10.13.6. I never imagined it could be on my end although it makes sense as I’m sure Susan is very careful about what goes out.
Mike Bryant April 21, 2021 JD, please refresh the page I think we may have stumbled onto a fix. Also, I wonder if your problem was exactly the same as I had. Thanks so much.
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 jd, so sorry you have been having trouble with the words. I had no idea my poems would cause angst for technical reasons… they usually cause angst for every other reason but. lol. I very much appreciate you dropping by to read and to comment so favorably. It’s voices like yours that give me the courage to continue on my poetic quest to call out injustices. Who would have thought “social justice” meant life-changing decisions being made by children before their minds and bodies are ready to realize the full implications of these decisions? It’s those awful modifiers like “social” before the word “justice” that enable justice to be manipulated into any shape the ruling class decide is the fad of the moment. Reply
Joe Tessitore April 21, 2021 These are brilliant and beautiful, perceptive and thoughtful, and I could go on and on! On a technical note, only you could pen a line like “She felt a rush and blush so lush …” and make it work and read as smoothly as anything I’ve ever read. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Joe, your lovely comment has made my day! As you well know, it’s pretty hard to make such a tough subject aesthetically appealing. I find it easy get a serious point across with humor, but, for me, it’s not quite so easy to do it on a serious note. I am thrilled my poetic efforts paid off and the message is still clear. Thank you for your appreciation and your constant inspiration and encouragement. Reply
Julian D. Woodruff April 21, 2021 I’m reminded slightly of Porter’s “urge to merge with a splurge.” Reply
Sally Cook April 21, 2021 Dear Susan – Competent, well-crafted, but more than that — you are saying things that have to be said, and said well. Your talents, approach to todays’s insanity and, yes, evil, is both measured and all encompassing – you have connected the dots! Though we go different ways as poets, we see and abhor the same things. I am proud to know you! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Dame Sally, I thank you wholeheartedly for your clear, concise, thoughtful and beautiful comment. I am over the moon my words reach out with their message and that they’re understood. Our poetry may differ, but our hearts dance to the same music… I am proud to know you and join you in life’s tempestuous tango. Reply
Gail April 21, 2021 Dear Susan, These are right on the mark. Your exposition and elucidation of normal childhood confusion and fear regarding unbidden and unrelenting physical and emotional changes is the understanding many who would be parents lack, and so fail to parent at all. We all know people who have offspring, but never become parents. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Thank you, Gail. The sad and wicked thing in today’s society is that the ruling class own our children. If those parents who really do care, and relate to all those things my poem mentions, they have no power to prevent their child’s decision go along with the authorities that deem it fit to go ahead with hormone replacement therapy. In fact, Robert Hoogland, a father in Canada, was arrested for calling his biological female child “daughter” – one of the dreadful deeds that inspired these poems. It’s getting seriously scary out there. Reply
BRIAN YAPKO April 21, 2021 Susan, you’ve done an absolutely brilliant job of taking a hot-button, complicated issue and distilling it into its poetic essence. As often happens, your beautifully-crafted (dare I say brave?) poems entertain me while making me think hard and maybe suffer a little anxiety along the way. I think that’s what great poetry should do, so bravo! From a content standpoint, that people can think a child is even remotely capable of making a decision that is irrevocable and life-altering is beyond me. And to yank all of society into a world where gender means nothing. — including our pronouns, our bathrooms, our sports — based on 100% subjectivity coupled with a diagnosis that is, in truth, vanishingly rare, seems the height of folly and cynical social engineering. Chromosomes are what they are. Gender is real. Not only real, essential to all of nature. In a dystopian world, “right is wrong and wrong is right indeed.” History will laugh at us. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Brian, you always manage to explain exactly what I want to say in intelligent, eloquent language that gets straight to the core of my poetic efforts. When you do that, it tells me I’ve got the message out there, and for that I’m wholly grateful. I am with you all the way on the pronouns, bathrooms, sports, and rendering gender meaningless front. This is being done in every area of our society – “racism” is now a meaningless, throw-away term for absolutely everything deemed non-PC and offensive to those who make the ever-changing rules. I used to laugh at the ridiculousness of all of this. That was before it came into being. I’m not laughing now, though I wholeheartedly agree with you – future generations will be laughing at our sheep-like idiocy. Thank you for spotting the bravery… I will admit to having to summon up a bit of extra strength to air my views in such a bold manner. That’s why your inspiration and support mean everything. Reply
Julian D. Woodruff April 21, 2021 Both very good, Susan. The first seems a bit more restrained and poised than the second, which shows your characteristic “let it rip” virtuosity. To me, this issue does not involve only foisting abusive (ruinous is not too strong a term) advice, hormones, and surgery on immature and confused kids. The attitude, which supports a growing, many-armed industry, is one that views the body as a possession and commodity: “our bodies, our selves” was the related feminist rallying cry that prefaced and sustained the ongoing abortion holocaust. “Sex change,” “gender migration, “genital mutilation,” whatever you want to call it, is no more legitimate for adults than for kids, and efforts to defend and justify it are an outrageous assault on healthy thinking about human life and conditions. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Julian, thank you very much for your encouraging and perspicacious comment. You are spot with your observations on the first poem showing restraint and the second letting rip. I wanted to put forth two different perspectives – looking calmly at the child-to-adult changes and the implications of a life lost with “scientific” intervention. And the second, the anger of all those who think our children are precious gifts that need our care and guidance… and I mean the care and guidance that leads them to make their own sensible decisions as fully grown adults. You make an excellent point on today’s society veering towards viewing the body as “a possession and commodity” – this is exactly what China does. I suppose, it’s inevitable that this is the road mapped out for us by all those increasingly rich politicians, big tech companies, pharmaceutical companies, big businesses etc. who depend upon China for their lavish lifestyles. Reply
Mike Bryant April 21, 2021 Susan, you’ve always had a terrible compulsion to tell the truth along with a wicked way with words. That’s why I just had to marry you. Brian said that you’re brave. If he only knew how brave you really are. I can imagine poets here at SCP that would and have said the controversial things that you have, but I have a feeling that few would post it to their own Facebook page. Evan is one of those few and I’m sure there are others here who won’t let their voices be stifled. As for Your poems… always beautiful, always thoughtful, and always true… just like You are. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Aww, thank you, Mike! Your support is pivotal to my poetry… that along with enduring all my funny British foibles. As for Facebook… I’m in the process of transferring all my postings to MeWe… Facebook has been far too large for far too long. I just wanted to go out with a bang before I’m banned! 🙂 Reply
Gail April 21, 2021 MeWe? Hmm! Going to have to check into that. Facebook booted me the other day. I was too obscure.
Joseph S. Salemi April 21, 2021 In the current political situation, it takes tremendous courage and intestinal fortitude to publish two forthright poems such as these. The transgender freaks are going to freak out. Be prepared. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Joe S., thank you for this. I will admit to never being quite prepared for the vitriol of those who cannot and will not tolerate a viewpoint that veers from the constant mindless mantra force fed to us from every conceivable angle… I quake a little, but I simply can’t deny my gut instinct and drive to get a rational viewpoint out there. I know it’s cost me “friends” but, hey, who wants friends who believe in chemically castrating children? And, who wants friends who have been telling children for decades, no more snow, and the polar bears are headed for extinction. Those kids have grandkids now and the snow and polar bears are more abundant than ever. I’d rather have a G & T with a good poetry book in isolation than have the in-crowd round for afternoon tea! Reply
Jeff Eardley April 21, 2021 Susan, a touchy subject that you have expressed so well with these two. We expect no less from you. I blame Johnny Cash (Boy named Sue) , The Who (I’m a boy) and the Kinks (Lola) for starting all this nonsense. Heaven forbid this doesn’t start to infect the Army. It would be sad to have most of the Privates with none of the parts. Reply
Julian D. Woodruff April 21, 2021 I didn’t suspect Johnny Cash expected us to take this rot seriously, but what do I know? Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Jeff, this is hilarious! Over here, the US military pays for sex change operations, so your “Privates with none of the parts” is, in fact, true. And, as for Johnny Cash et al, they were as prophetic as Orwell. What a strange world we inhabit. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 To save any confusion, my opinion on adults wishing to have a sex change is irrelevant. The only time it becomes relevant is if taxpayers are expected to pay for this procedure and transgenders join the military because the procedure is “free.” Reply
Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 As usual Susan, you’re a treasure trove of well-crafted poetry. But if I may quibble, I do believe that the the final line: In her day puberty was never prone To being blocked for thoughts not fully grown. should have ‘by’ as the preposition instead of ‘for’ But then, I also believe Shakespeare’s lines should read: “I could be bound in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not I have bad dreams.” instead of “bounded in a nutshell” Do I dare disturb the universe? I’m sure Bill will forgive me. What about you? Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Frank, thank you so much for your comment. Just to make it clear on the for/by front – I’m talking about a drug called a puberty blocker. They are used by doctors because of (for) the childish thoughts of kids. I hope that makes sense. If not, I am quite happy to reconsider my closing couplet… I’m certainly no Shakespeare 😉 With much gratitude, as ever. Reply
Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 Thanks Susan. I guess I misunderstood. But the line is ambiguous in any case. “I’m talking about a drug called a puberty blocker. They are used by doctors because of (for) the childish thoughts of kids.” SO: In her day puberty was never prone To being blocked (I see, by doctors because of and thus for) for thoughts not fully grown. I thought it meant “In her day” puberty was not resisted by children who were afraid of it. Anyway, I’m quibbling. Can I also ask, as someone who wrote many sonnets, why present day writers insist on capitalizing every opening line whether it starts a new sentence or not? I mean it gives an archaic look to lines (especially in your poetry where I can’t recall an inversion such as “The beautiful way she cooks, I love” instead of “I love the beautiful way she cooks”) that read very colloquially otherwise. Sorry for this convoluted sentence. But I would write: “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May and summer’s lease has all too short a date” instead of capitalizing And- I think it does a well-crafted poem an injustice – anyway to each his own. Doth thou not agree? LOL! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Frank, I can see my closing couplet needs work. As I’ve said before, I always consider my poems a work in progress and I love editing, so I’ll be euphoric this weekend. Thank you! As for the capitalizing question, I never used to capitalize for the simple reason that I thought it made it easier for a reader to recite a poem if the poem flowed in natural sentences… but, I’ve since changed my mind due to the arguments put forth by the admirable sonneteer, Peter Hartley, and the esteemed and superb poet Dr. Salemi. Both know far more than I do when it comes to formal poetry. Take a look at the discussion on one of my poems below (link provided). If I feel it serves a poem better to leave the first letter of each line in lower case, I will… I am but a novice and always open to suggestion. https://classicalpoets.org/2020/08/24/in-memory-of-my-grandmother-by-susan-jarvis-bryant/ Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Wonderful news, Lois! We need to get the word out there… our children are too precious to be owned by the state. Thank you very much! Reply
Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 Susan, thanks. My God, your 8/25/20 comment to Peter Hartley could have come out of my mouth. It’s exactly as I would put it. GBS wrote: “The only rules is that there are no rules.” And I will go to my grave (which may not be too far off!) certain that capitals at beginning lines of poetry is as absurd as Thou and Thee. Because Haydn opens his symphonies with an introduction, Beethoven must put one before the Eroica symphony? Ravel has to write a piano concerto like Brahms? I still say your poetry is too good to be using first line caps. “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action,” a poet once wrote. I still think capital lower case letters are jarring and archaic. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 I hear you, Frank, and think you make a valid point. The reason I am happy to adopt the capitals at the beginning of each line is the thought that if we are on this site to preserve classical poetry, form is an integral part, and capital letters are an integral part of form. However, the language in the body of the poem is a very different animal. I don’t like archaic language or inversions (sometimes inevitable) unless it’s for comedic effect. As I said before, I always take on the advice of those who know better… including you, Frank. I’ll be working on that closing couplet this weekend. Reply
Frank De Canio April 21, 2021 Thanks Susan. And since you are British, I believe, can I ask why police can’t stop the guy bothering poor Lily Allen, whom I love. I hear now she’s running a used clothing shop. Sorry for breaking protocol here. I promise I won’t do it again. Or you can just ignore me. I’d understand.
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 21, 2021 Frank, the British police were unable to stop child sexual exploitation in Rotherham for over twenty years, so I’m not surprised Lily Allen had a raw deal. The UK is a little ahead of the USA in the reassignment of police priorities. Law enforcement is far too busy looking for hate crimes on social media to worry about life-threatened celebrities or raped schoolgirls, I’m sorry to say. Welcome to the new world order! 🙂
David Watt April 22, 2021 Susan, ‘A Prayer for Sanity’ has the perfect title to complement its forthright content. The fashion of promoting the exploitation of young minds and bodies is just that-insane. Thanks for always telling it like it is, in your entertaining manner. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 22, 2021 David, thank you for your continued support and insightful comment. As you can see, I’m still writing political poetry. My yoga mat is gathering dust in the cupboard! I simply can’t help myself. Reply
Martin Rizley April 22, 2021 These are great poems, Susan, so timely, so well-written, so passionate in feeling, and so true! Thank you for sharing them with us, as I will share them with others. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 22, 2021 Martin, it’s always lovely to hear from you. I know our hearts beat to the same tune, and to hear you are spreading my poetic efforts to keep the truth out there has heartened me more than you can imagine. Any harm threatening our children should never slink under the radar. Reply
Yael April 22, 2021 Wow Susan, way to go! You tackled the touchiest of subjects with bravery and fortitude while using the sweetest and lightest touch imaginable. Both poems are a delight to read. I’m impressed with your choice of words which weave the verbal equivalent of a fine and colorful tapestry featuring sublime vistas. A Chemistry Lesson is my favorite, simply because it speaks directly to my own experience as a pre-teen girl. Thank God there were no gender-bender predators around when I went through that confusing phase in my life. A Prayer for Sanity is a necessary addition and I’m glad you are praying it. Thanks to your inspiration I will be praying for it too. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 22, 2021 Yael, thank you very much for this wonderful, and, dare I say it – poetic comment. You have a beautiful way with words. I’m looking forward to reading your first poem. 🙂 You have tapped into the very heart of my poetry with complete understanding. I can relate to your pre-teen years because the girl in the poem is me. It chills me to think that my whole life could have been ruined because of the innocent and confused thoughts and desires I had. My prayer poem is the maternal side of me standing up for all of those vulnerable children out there. We are living in wicked times. Thank you for your prayers, Yael. Reply
wayne frazier April 24, 2021 Proverbs 25:12 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Well done Susan, well done! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 28, 2021 I am honored to receive this beautiful comment – thank you very much, Wayne. Reply
Dave Whippman April 25, 2021 Well said Susan, you’re a voice of sanity. I’ve seen plenty of items on kids who would probably have been ok if the “experts” hadn’t got their hands on them. There was a joke doing the rounds when I was a psychi nurse: If things get worse for this guy, we may have to stop helping him… Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 28, 2021 Dave, I’m heartened to hear that I’m ‘a voice of sanity’. As far as “experts” and children go, these days I worry terribly. Your joke says it all – I fear many a true word really is spoken in jest. Thank you very much for your insightful comment. Reply
Robert James Liguori April 28, 2021 Two of the best poems I have ever read. Thank you for sharing. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant April 28, 2021 Robert, thank you for your most encouraging comment – I’m thrilled you appreciated my poems. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 1, 2021 B, thank you for dropping by and thank you for your comment – I’m glad my words made an impression. It’s such a tough subject that certainly needs addressing. Reply
JD Clifton May 11, 2021 Susan thank you so much for your bravery. I really like the line about how we shouldn’t validate kids’ thoughts or feelings. As a man myself I am so thankful for the many relationships I had growing up with healthy and well-adjusted adult males who were deeply in touch with their own internal lives, and would make sure I never expressed mine. Thank the Lord I had them to let me know to shut my mouth when I shared my own feelings or cried, which I liked to do a lot especially when Jeff Gordon would lose a NASCAR race. I really liked how his car had all those colors, but now I know that those were just my stupid confused homosexual kid thoughts. Thank God that bud got stamped out early in life. One time I asked my Aunt Jean if she needed help in the kitchen before a family dinner and my grandpa chucked his can of Old Milwakee at my head and told me to sit down and watch Dale Earnhardt like a man. Gosh I was a confused kid. Imagine if I had been allowed to meet scientists when I was a youth! I mean they might have warned me about the dangers of diabetes, and I might still have my left foot, but I’m free and I can eat funnel cakes for lunch and breakfast if I want, and not be a woman. Speaking of being a woman, I think maybe your poem forgot to mention how when that girl was young she wanted to write classical poetry and then later realized that was only for dudes and she was cool with the gift of only being able to read poetry and not write it. Well, I guess she could have also been a spinster who lived in her attic, but I don’t know too much about this stuff, I’m just starting out. Thanks for teaching me what poetry is all about and remember to suffer the children to come to Jesus, which I think means drag our “gay” kids to conversion therapy even if they are crying, begging us not to, and threatening suicide, cause we all know our fairy, lily-picking kids don’t have the guts to go through with it. And if they did it’d be the liberals’ and BLM’s fault not ours. Sorry your dad named you Susan bro, but glad you got on the right track! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 11, 2021 JD, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your observations on my poems. Firstly, I’d like to make one aspect of my poems (the ONLY aspect) crystal clear. The poems are about authorities sexualizing children. Grooming children. Encouraging children to explore their pre-pubescent sexuality. Coercing children into making a life-changing decision about their gender before they’ve had the chance to grow up… and by “grow up”, I mean to experience life with a mature mind and, most importantly, a mature body that’s been allowed to develop naturally without the sick interference of chemical castration. A five year old barely understands the difference between the two sexes, and as you’ve brought science into the discussion, chromosomes biologically prove there are ONLY TWO SEXES. Please don’t insult my intelligence by denying the science. I believe in the science! These poems have nothing to do with religion. They have everything to do with highlighting the perverted minds of those who think that mutilating children’s bodies will bring them lifelong fulfillment. It’s a wicked and destructive lie that all those transgenders who have committed suicide after this mutilation would gladly tell you if they were still alive. Look up the suicide statistics – 95% of those who have gone through with the procedure of changing sex want the procedure reversed, but, sadly when a penis or breasts are removed… it’s a bit of a tough challenge to restore them to their former glory. Those sick perverts pushing transgenderism aren’t the only voices speaking on behalf of our children… let’s hope more people stand up to speak out for our children before those wielding the puberty blockers and scalpels do their worst. I wish you a good day and thank you for highlighting just why our children need the voice of sanity to speak up. I’ll let the readers decide whether that’s my voice or yours. Reply
Gail May 11, 2021 That was hilarious. Whatever else it may have been . . . sincere? . . . confused? . . . facetious? I don’t know and can’t tell. Reckless abandon, indeed! Reply
Brooke May 12, 2021 hi susan, i saw in a comment you said there are only two sexes, which is correct. but gender? doesn’t even exist. there is nothing in our biological makeup that makes men like women, cars and football. there’s nothing in our biological makeup that makes women like men, dresses and cooking. it’s really that simple. it’s not perverse to tell kids they don’t have to fit in a box, when we literally made the box up. explain to me how it’s pushing sexuality on to kids when someone says “you don’t have to be what society expects you to”, but it’s NOT pushing sexuality onto kids when someone says “you’re a girl because you have a uterus, also you like boys and will give them children” like susan?? how is saying “be yourself i support you” perverse but literally choosing and enforcing a sexuality isn’t? Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, read my first poem. I’m saying children should be themselves. They shouldn’t have to fit a typical male/female stereotype. My entire point is that these days, if girls and boys don’t fit the stereotype they are in danger of being coerced into taking hormone blockers. Just because boys don’t have typical masculine traits doesn’t mean they’re girls and just because girls don’t have typical feminine traits doesn’t mean they’re boys. In a nutshell, if anyone decides to tread the hormone/surgery path they should make that decision as an adult not be coerced into it while still a child. Children shouldn’t make life-changing decisions concerning their bodies… they should be left to mature physically and mentally first. Reply
Brooke May 12, 2021 Susan, due to the fact that gender does not exist i don’t see why it matters if kids chose a gender not assigned to them. hormone blockers aren’t a bad thing, and if they regret it they can just take hormones. again, there’s nothing in our biological makeup that determines gender so if a kid decides they’d like to be a gender opposite of them and even take hormone blockers, i don’t see why that’s an issue. it’s just as much of a decision to let hormones run their course as it is to block them. you’re deciding either way. kids should know they have a choice. also i’ve never heard of a kid coerced into hormones? letting kids know that it’s okay to not be their assigned gender is not the same thing as making a kid take hormones. it’s important to be informed and make informed decisions. i also agree that boys don’t have to have typical masculine traits and girls don’t have to have typical feminine traits, but it’s also okay to change your assigned gender all together if it doesn’t feel right.
Brooke May 12, 2021 to rephrase, in case you didn’t understand that, it’s just as much a decision to go through with bodily hormones as it is to block them. we’re just finally giving kids a choice. it’s reversible, in case they aren’t satisfied, and it’s 100% okay for everyone of any age to explore their gender identity and not just go with what false science and traditions say.
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, I don’t think anyone should be stereotyped. Every person is an individual in their own right. What I am objecting to is children being told they have access to drugs to change their physical make-up. How can pre-pubescent children, who haven’t experienced a grown body with all the physical, hormonal, and emotional changes that go with it, decide that he/she wants to change their physical make-up to resemble the opposite sex when they haven’t experienced their own sex to it’s fullest degree? What I’m saying is puberty blockers should never be given to children. Puberty blockers aren’t candy – they’re potent mind-altering, body altering drugs. What if a child wants candy for his dinner every night… should he have that choice? What if a child wants to pet a rattlesnake… should she have that choice? What if a child thinks he can fly… should he be able to test this out from a 20th floor balcony? Children have no experience of life and the consequences of such decisions. That’s why there are laws in place to protect them from pedophilia. If they’re too young to have a sexual relationship under the age of eighteen, how is it that they’re old enough to decide what sex they want to be before they’ve gone through puberty?
Brooke May 12, 2021 susan, all of the things you described were dangerous. but hormone therapy is not dangerous. i agree that hormone therapy should not be handed to children like candy, but if a child comes to their parent and tells them that they’re transgender, i don’t see why hormone therapy would be a problem. i agree that there should be an age limit to hormone therapy, like say 12 or 13, so this means informing kids from an early age what gender is. if you think that the child would not be sure or change their minds, then the way to go is the education about gender to children so that they can be 100% sure what confuses kids is that a gender is being enforced, being told there are options isn’t confusing. again, hormone therapy is easily reversible and not at all dangerous.
Brooke May 12, 2021 to rephrase again, because i know i’m all over the place, eliminating gender as something that’s enforced would end the confusion, i’m sure. kids would just be themselves and take hormone therapy if they’d like. getting kids out of this brainwashing of “you’re a boy, you’re a girl” will take generations, so it’s not an immediate solution. an immediate solution would just be to listen when a kid has dysphoria and support them. people really do know themselves the best. and if you’re wondering how many adults regret the transition they had as a kid, it’s less than 2%.
Brooke May 12, 2021 actually it’s 8% of adults transition and regret it, my bad. should we deny 92% of people the right to be themselves?
Mike Bryant May 12, 2021 From someone that has insider info: https://quillette.com/2020/01/02/the-ranks-of-gender-detransitioners-are-growing-we-need-to-understand-why/
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, “hormone therapy” is a blanket term that covers treatment for many things, including growth, menopause, etc. etc. I am talking about puberty suppression, which is one of the many types of hormone therapy. The side effects are numerous, dangerous and horrifying. It causes depression, and physical and sexual impairments that are irreversible, including infertility. No child should make that decision. Read my first poem again. If I had made that choice as a child, it would have ruined my life. I am glad I had a family and friends around me to support my boyish ways without telling me that I had the option of being a boy… I would have said “Yes”.
Brooke May 12, 2021 Susan, I’m happy that you’re secure in your gender now, but you cannot speak for all of transgender people because of your experience. your case is a rarity. an overwhelming majority are happy with their choice to transition, because they were sure of themselves. i don’t know if you felt you were trans/gay still when you were 13, or how sure you were, but most people that get puberty blockers are very sure of themselves and have felt that way for a while.
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, to get back to my original point, girls are girls and boys are boys, whatever feminine or masculine traits they may exhibit. This biological given should NEVER be experimented with… especially in still developing children. I have a feeling we are not going to agree on this, so I will stop here.
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 12, 2021 Brooke, this is my last post on this… I will give you the courtesy of a reply to your question about me. At the age of thirteen, I thought I preferred girls based on the fact that most of the boys in my class only came up to my shoulder, didn’t smell too good and were obnoxious. At that time, I hadn’t started my period and my own natural hormones hadn’t kicked in. I may have thought I wanted to be a boy based on my silly, immature premise alone. I’m glad I lived in an age where I didn’t have that choice. I was too naive to be given that choice – it would have ruined my chances of being happy and being a mother. Please click on the link Mike Bryant has posted above. It may help you see where I’m coming from.
The Society May 12, 2021 Dear Brooke and everyone else in these comments, We will not have people saying that women can call themselves men or vice versa. Your comments may be deleted or you may be banned. It is a sickness and is self-destructive. What science can and cannot prove is, at a certain point, irrelevant. There are plenty of opportunities for different interests. Handel’s operas, for instance, have many castrato parts suitable for relatively effeminate men or women to play. But when people start messing up their own fundamental gender, or sex, then they indeed have a mental issue and are, frankly, less clearheaded than children. In the Eastern tradition, there is a clear differentiation between the yin (female) and yang (male), and in the Western tradition we have a clear differentiation going back to Adam and Eve, or Zeus and Hera if you prefer. Evan Mantyk, Editor Reply
Gail May 12, 2021 Evan, I’m relieved to see your response. Are there guidelines written somewhere on the site? It would be reassuring to read them if there are. Thank you! –G
The Society May 12, 2021 Gail, There are not. This is the kind of thing I thought I would never have to say. The way things are going, pretty soon I’ll have to say no advocating child porn and consensual man-boy-love. What once was obvious now seems unclear. Regarding another of your comments, Darwin is indeed a significant source of these problem. Good point. -Evan
Christopher Chellsen May 13, 2021 Evan, you are aware of the origins of ‘castrato’, correct? The church-sanctioned practice of castrating pre-adolescent choir boys so their voices wouldn’t change and they would maintain their higher pitch range? I’m just saying that’s an odd thing to bring up as a justification for why people should not believe in the science of transgenderism. I fully expect you to delete this comment because you disagree with it, but sir, you are an intellectual fraud and the bigotry run rampant on this site is an embarrassment to poets everywhere.
The Society May 13, 2021 Dear Christopher, I love Handel’s music, so it came to mind. People may have diverse tastes. That’s the point. Gender/sex, however, is immutable. The castratos were always regarded as boys, not girls. It’s not so hard to understand, right? Poets everywhere have been enjoying the SCP’s website, so I’m not sure what you are referring to exactly. Certainly transgenderism is an embarrassment to humanity itself. If you don’t want to have a civil discussion and want to act like a bigot in your manner, then, yes, your comments may indeed be deleted. -Evan Mantyk
Mike Bryant May 12, 2021 I love the poems because they are beautiful and true and loving. Putting sex and gender into a bit of historical perspective: https://www.heritage.org/gender/report/sex-gender-and-the-origin-the-culture-wars-intellectual-history Reply
Gail May 12, 2021 Thanks, Mike! Did not read every word–the repetitive pattern of the thinking in the development of the movement is very readily apparent. They missed the biggest cause right at the outset. Darwin actually started the whole mess by compromising the truth of Scripture with his theories. A very big lie propounding more of the same. Reply
Mike Bryant May 30, 2021 Susan, it looks like America is waking up! https://thenewamerican.com/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-trans-lies-60-minutes-tackles-big-gender/ Reply
Mike Bryant July 25, 2024 “I’ve never seen anything worse than what’s happening right now. And that includes the sorts of things that were done in the camps in Germany. At least the goddamn Nazis admitted what they did was wrong. They tried to hide it. We trumpet it as a moral virtue… These surgical procedures are so brutal and so experimental that they’re—I’m going to say it again—they’re worse than what the Mengele types did in the concentration camps in the thirties and forties. And that’s a pretty goddamn low bar.” -Dr. Jordan Peterson 7/25/2024 Reply
