"Tomorrow Forever" by Margaret KeaneA Poem on California’s Proposition One and Other Poetry by Margaret Coats The Society October 11, 2022 Culture, Poetry 48 Comments . Proposition One Proposition One, written by the state legislature, amends the California constitution “to expressly include an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which includes the fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and the fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.” This is the language on the official ballot, corresponding to specific words of the proposition itself. A vote by the people is scheduled for November 8. Something’s missing. Here’s the right to choose Abortion, but no freedom to refuse. Rights include refusing contraceptives, But to abortion all must be receptive. I hear them now enforcing in the future And killing in the guise of acts that nurture: “A pre-birth murder many times is needed For reasons birthing persons have not heeded. The early fetal heartbeat is mere fable, And minds can’t change with bodies on the table. “Please note all genders may choose to abort, Though some could only choose by using force, But judges must be stopped who might uphold Refusal from a fetus nine months old.” . . Genderosity A law providing all gender-affirming health care services at California taxpayer expense was signed by the governor on September 29, 2022, and will go into effect on January 1, 2023. It is intended especially to serve underage non-residents of the state. Free drugs of several kinds block puberty; The Golden State voids liability For anyone in perpetuity. Free hormones are prescribed by telephone And mailed to children young or grown or lone; By law, all information’s kept unknown. Free travel, lodging, surgery supplied For trafficked kids and pimps unsatisfied With situations anywhere worldwide. Practitioners may not cooperate With law enforcement in or out of state; The gold in California offers great Prospective gain for predators and panders, A paradise for global debauchees, And shelter for too many crimes to rhyme. . . Margaret Coats lives in California. She holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University. She has retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others. 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. Trending now: 48 Responses Dan Ward October 11, 2022 Thanks for shedding light on this. A brutal assault on parental authority, and on the sanctity and innocence of childhood. Reply Margaret Coats October 11, 2022 Dan, thanks for your comment which is quite correct. All of us, no matter where we live, have a vote on these matters in upcoming elections. It is time to protect life and children and family with votes, contributions, and every effort we can make. Reply Joseph S. Salemi October 11, 2022 What the bloody hell is WRONG with Californians? Why are they supporting this crap, and electing idiots like Newsom who promote it? Yes, it’s all horrible and disgusting. But shouldn’t we ask why the voting population of the state condones it? Is California truly the “land of fruits and nuts,” as we said back in the 1960s? Reply Julian D. Woodruff October 11, 2022 California may be the state most far gone, but don’t you shake your head at the country as a whole, Joseph? Should Biden have received even one vote? Should there be any chance that Democrats would control either congressional chamber after the coming election? How long will the outrages against churches and pro-life pregnancy centers be tolerated, not to mention the Gestapo tactics against many who resist the Moloch -crazed barbarian hordes? Reply Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 I looked for the quote about our form of government being suited only to a virtuous or religious people. All the Founding Fathers said the same thing, varying the words slightly. R M Moore October 11, 2022 Too true, Joseph, and your’s is a good choice of words! But being ”progressive” has been festering the state for a long time. It is greatly upsetting for this native Californian to see, when I consider all the variety and beauty my state has had in abundance. It can recover those things, if people of good will stay and resist legally. Reply Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Joseph, you are using the old gift-basket model for the state. The newer one is the toolbox with plenty of loose nuts and screws. Despite them, there are California fighters who use weapons as well as tools, and occasionally achieve victories. Traditional marriage was written into the state constitution in 2008 (preserving the institution with no discrimination against non-traditional domestic partnerships). Four Congressional districts made right turns in 2020. But it’s war against entrenched opponents. At present, they are in trouble because of rising costs of living, utilities mismanagement, and skyrocketing crime. That is a big reason Proposition One is on the ballot; they hope persons motivated by its radicalism (not by high prices, power outages, or the police) will turn out to vote in force. Reply Patricia Redfern October 28, 2022 Dearest Joseph, This state, as you recall, nuts or not, produced one of the greatest Presidents of our Republic! Ronald Reagan! Many Conservatives still live here. I am one of them. Given the huge population, no, we are not ALL fruits and nuts. We vote against all these killer measures. We rallied for Trump. But both our Houses, and the madman, Newsom, remain in power. You do not know how awful it is to see his face! He is as bright as Biden, so, we work on registration, converse with our fellow man, too. We pay to have our children in religious schools and colleges. Many left this state, including Elon Musk. Please know we are in a fight to get the state back, please?? For the time being the nuts are in power. One day, they won’t be! Have mercy, I beg of you… Neither a fruit nor a nut. Patricia…. Reply Patricia Redfern October 28, 2022 Joseph, excuse my error on Elon Musk Living here! Apologies.! Best I have some cofffee, right away! Regards, Patricia Margaret Coats October 30, 2022 Patricia, thank you for your reading and comment. Indeed you and many Californians are working against the tide, but too many don’t understand the issues and may not even be concerned with them. We have some effective communicators, but we need dedicated leaders above the grass roots level. I am encouraged by Eric Early, who is running for state Attorney General. If you go to his website, you’ll see that he not only campaigns for himself, but has taken on the leadership role of endorsing good candidates for local school boards throughout California. There are five pages of names! These show that we have many competent Californians willing to spend time, effort, and money to do what Early calls “unleashing California.” Reply Edward "Ted"Hayes November 1, 2022 Yes it is, Joseph. A further question might be: Why is it full of fruits and nuts? And not just California, but the growing number of states, and now school districts, who make the “nuttiness” of the sixties look almost harmless? Why are we, as a nation and civilization, wandering down Woke Street, with the final stop just out of sight around a not-far-distant bend? You have a better pen than I, and hopefully are not confined, like me, to a nursing home. I’d appreciate hearing from you and learning a few book titles which attempt answers, and hearing your willingness to write an article – or more- answering the question. SCP published my song lyric attacking (most) abortion about a year ago. Write, I’ll send you the song CD. With best regards. Ted Hayes. PhD Political Science, UC Berkeley, 1957 (I was there). [email protected] Reply E. Hayes December 28, 2022 This a test of “reply” Margaret Coats November 2, 2022 Ted Hayes, I made a response to you which posted far below. Please look for it near the end of this comment thread. Thank you for your question responding to Dr. Salemi’s question! Reply Brian Yapko October 11, 2022 Wow, Margaret. It’s years since I’ve followed California politics and this is a kick-in-the-pants reminder of not only why I don’t but why I fled Los Angeles in 2011 after living there for 37 years. Your poems are great albeit upsetting. Your poem on abortion puts a spotlight on the one-sided view recognized by the Leftist Hegemony concerning who has rights and who has no rights at all, even if it means the murder of a full term baby. And it’s noteworthy how little autonomy and decision-making power judges actually have. They are forced by the law to rubber stamp the most heinous of acts. Better to be a bricklayer. Your “Genderosity” (brilliant title) describes a state of affairs which is beyond belief. The state involvement you describe is horrible enough but to do this at taxpayer expense and to give immunity to “medical care providers” who refuse to cooperate with law enforcement? Confused children are sterilized, the mob in the streets revels, the world laughs at us, Beijing smiles with smug satisfaction and it’s no wonder you abandon rhyme altogether in the final stanza and throw your hands in the air in disgust at what is a clearly an outrageously debauched travesty of just and moral social policy. Thank you for the spotlight on these awful propositions which will undoubtedly pass by a landslide. California is lost. Reply Brian Yapko October 11, 2022 Even worse — I just realized from your note that the “gender affirming” law has actually been passed by your legislature, signed by your governor and is going into effect in three months. I take that as confirmation of my assessment: California is indeed lost. Reply Margaret Coats November 9, 2022 You were right, Brian. Proposition One passed by 65% to 35%. This is too large a margin to say the win was due to fraud, even though I first noticed major fraud in a close race 30 years ago, and cheating has only grown by winning. Ultimately, the continued victory of evil discourages good. But let me give credit to the Catholic Church for being the only leader of the opposition, and to the Orange County Register for being the only media outlet that carried full discussion of the issue on both sides. There was a barrage of misinformation and disinformation, on which the proponents spent $15 million. They were a little afraid abortion (up to the moment of birth for any reason) might not win. Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Brian, thanks for your attention to the poems. Although judges cannot do much about bad laws, they have some little powers, such as deciding that a governor’s covid restrictions had stalled the people’s efforts to replace him, and granting more time. To block exercise of such powers, Proposition One recognizes no right to refuse an abortion, just in case anyone in the future might appeal to a judge concerning refusal by the baby or the father or even the mother herself. The full proposition’s language is curiously non-gendered, implying that any “individual” might choose an abortion. And if there were a right to refuse, not limited to the female gender, a refusal just might be made by any interested party. As for gender-affirming medical staff, and local police, they are not just granted immunity for failure to cooperate with law enforcement. Rather, they commit a crime if they carry out any court order concerning, or use any warrant to arrest, a gender-therapy patient or anyone accompanying a gender-therapy patient. This could be very convenient for anyone who makes the “seeking treatment” claim. Reply Cynthia Erlandson October 11, 2022 Such tragedy, and irony, well-expressed, Margaret. Thank you. Reply Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Thank you, Cynthia. There is tragic irony here, in the law and in the proposition, as well as in my expressions about them. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant October 11, 2022 Margaret, I applaud you for bringing to light the evils of your state legislature which serves as a grave warning as to what’s lurking in the legislative shadows worldwide. How low can the Western world sink … let’s hope the future still lies with all those working hard to pay their taxes and have a say in preserving the history, culture, and sanity of their surrounds. Your words are bold and impactful… just what we need in these times. I thank you wholeheartedly for every creative and informative one of them. Reply Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Thank you, Susan. Some of these words belong to our editor’s clarifying and smoothing them into their best sense. As I said above, they not only suggest what you and others may see elsewhere soon; they remind us that we must all take our part in preserving history, culture, and sanity (thank you for those words!). Vote as if this California chaos were on your ballot. Reply Russel Winick October 11, 2022 Thanks for spotlighting these outrages, Margaret. This epitomizes what the Left has become. Reply Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Thank you, Russel. I have looked forward a bit from what they say right now, but they doubtless see the potential for crime in a system that guarantees secrecy, freedom from liability, and contempt for law enforcement. Reply Roy E. Peterson October 11, 2022 Margaret, I lived in California for a while until 2012, and realized how devilish the state had become. I returned to Texas for many reasons including social issues. You have brilliantly spotlighted just some of the things that are wrong with California, but two of the most heinous ones! San Francisco is Sodom and LA is Gomorrah with an evil administration in Sacrilege-mento! Reply Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Roy, like Brian Yapko above and Joshua Frank below, you are some of the many Californians who are voting with their feet. One real estate company has awarded Governor Newsom the title of “Greatest Agent in the History of Real Estate” for persuading so many to sell their homes. The outflow of talent and tradition, and the planned influx of a different kind of society is startling. But we are looking in the right direction for help–namely, above! Reply Joshua C. Frank October 11, 2022 Wow… powerful stuff! I used to live in California, and this kind of garbage is one of the major reasons I left. How awful that all this is happening. It’s even worse than you describe. Remember “A Villanelle for Robert Hoogland?” This legislation will ensure that anyone in the United States who objects will meet the same fate: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/california-becomes-first-sanctuary-state-for-child-exploitation “The law also effectively strips parents of custody by empowering California courts to take over ‘temporary emergency jurisdiction’ of children who travel to the state seeking sex-change treatments. Parents can do absolutely nothing to stop this. In fact, if they do try to protest the state’s kidnapping of their child, California officials will almost certainly work to make sure that the loss of custody becomes permanent. The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Scott Wiener, admitted as much in a recent interview: “‘We may have limits under the U.S. Constitution,’ he said, ‘but we are going to go right up to the edge of what we’re able to do to protect them and say, “Unless we are absolutely forced to send you back, we are not going to send you back.”’” Reply Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Josh, thank you for posting Scott Wiener’s statement showing the intent to remove children from parents permanently. In “Genderosity” I point out that this LEGAL POWER TO SEPARATE AND TO DEFY LAW ENFORCEMENT can be, as it most certainly will be, used for evil purposes that have little or nothing to do with treatment of gender dysphoria. The state does ostensibly offer all benefits (a new secret life in a new place with no fear of intrusion by police) not only to children but also to any parent (or other supportive person) who wants gender therapy for a child. Human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world. Human traffickers cannot be arrested if they claim one of their young victims needs gender services. Foreign pimps get airfare and entry documents for themselves and “family” (if they are from a backward country restricting gender affirmation). Divorced parents need not obey court orders or injunctions. Estranged spouses get practical if not strictly legal divorce, and California pays child support. Runaways seeking Hollywood stardom get free hotel and spending money and studio tutors to finish their education–or so they see it. Most will end up as child labor or prostitutes. Police cannot detain them or arrest their exploiters as long as there is a claim the individual wants gender services. None of this actually requires a child to submit to drugs or surgery: services start with sympathetic counseling. But those who do proceed may become exotic bodies that command higher prices in the prostitution marketplace. Reply R M Moore October 11, 2022 Thank you, Margaret. What you use poetry for is what I use music for. Will try to attend Church Sunday. Reply Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 I hope to see you there! Thanks for this comment, and for the one addressed to Joseph Salemi above, mentioning the variety and beauty California possesses in abundance. When you speak of Californians who remain in the state and legally resist its perversion, I think of the heroic Opal Singleton, founder of the Million Kids organization, who works untiringly with law enforcement to rescue children here and elsewhere. May her efforts to counteract seducers continue to flourish despite all challenges! Reply Mary Gardner October 11, 2022 Margaret, these poems bring to light the demonic situation in your otherwise beautiful California. They are jarring, but I thank you for writing them. Reply Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Thank you, Mary. We do have beauty material and spiritual here, and if you don’t know of Opal Singleton, whom I mention to R M Moore above, look her up and take heart at her opposition to the demonic situation kids often encounter online. Reply James Sale October 12, 2022 I love poetry that pays attention to small technical details: the final triplet and its failure to rhyme is just such a detail – And shelter for too many crimes to rhyme – but the true poet simply can’t accept the true ugliness of the non-rhyme, so you’ve smuggled in an internal one. Brilliant! Reply Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Thank you, James. To rise above expository rant on a deeply troublesome topic, this poem needed a brilliant finishing touch, and now, on your authority, I can say it has one! Reply James Sale October 14, 2022 Ha ha ha!!! Yes, Margaret, please, use my authority! David Watt October 13, 2022 Margaret, you rightfully bring to attention two extremely one-sided anti-family propositions/laws. I also like the creativity of your “Genderosity” title, and the purposeful non-rhyme conclusion to this piece. Reply Margaret Coats October 14, 2022 Thanks, David, for taking time to comment. Your attention is especially welcome because the matter of the poems provokes disgust in response. So does ridiculous thought and language in the law and proposition, such as designating specific acts “fundamental rights.” But this marks an area for poets as well as philosophers to try to make some sense of it all! Reply Clare Tierney October 13, 2022 I didn’t realize Reply Margaret Coats October 14, 2022 Clare, thank you for reading, and if your full comment didn’t come through, please try again! For one thing Californians may not realize about Proposition One, please see my reply to Sally Cook below. Reply sally cook October 14, 2022 Dear Margaret – Thanks for these strong and skillful powms., Two things that give me nightmares are the murder of nine month old babies both in and out of the womb – (you can call it nothing else), and this evil, ugly “gender-affirming” attack on our children. I mean both of those quite literally. Good and evil still exist. Reply Margaret Coats October 14, 2022 So they do, Sally, and evil always tries to hide nightmarish things it does and plans. As I understand, having read up on the subject, the murder of a nine-month-old baby, soon to be born, is NOT currently legal in California. Rather, if the child can survive outside the womb (which is possible from about six months), he or she must not be killed. Proposition One will make late-term murder legal by saying that the state must not “deny or interfere with” [set limits on] abortion. BUT THE OFFICIAL BALLOT HIDES THIS! It says the Proposition will have “no direct fiscal impact because reproductive rights already are protected by state law.” In other words, the ballot that everyone will see claims Proposition One merely puts into the state constitution what is already in state law. Many voters, who would be aghast at killing a viable infant, will think voting for Proposition One just affirms the status quo. Let’s hope they find out the truth and all vote against this evil. Reply CARL PHILLIPS October 31, 2022 Thank you, Margaret for addressing this important issue. You have a real gift with the English language. To paraphrase an old quote from Billy Graham, if God doesn’t destroy California, He owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. Reply Margaret Coats October 31, 2022 You are right, Carl. Thanks for reading and commenting. Our only hope is in the memory that the patriarch Abraham interceded for Sodom, and God promised He would not destroy it if He could find ten good men there. As it turned out, Abraham’s nephew Lot was the only man worth saving, and even his wife was lost for looking back. We have our Apostle Junipero Serra and all the saints of the California missions, as well as the Queen of Angels herself (patroness of Los Angeles) to intercede for us. I wonder how many good men it will take for God to continue to spare the state. We are losing them, as several previous commentors have shown, and at the same time continuing the salvific conflict. Reply Margaret Coats November 2, 2022 Thank you, Ted, for your contribution to this discussion. The question of why Californians and others are unthinking fruits and nuts and screws is important. My incomplete answer is that persons commit the fundamental sin of pride in viewing themselves as gods. I have looked at your poem “Abortion Rites” and made a comment there. My very best wishes to you in your current situation that calls for my sympathy and prayers, and you have them as well. Reply Joshua C. Frank November 2, 2022 I just read “Abortion Rites;” it’s quite effective at showing what a horror the whole thing is. However, I found many of the pro-abortion comments sickening, especially in response to such a powerful poem… not to mention the fact that no one stood up to them. If someone wrote a poem about the Holocaust, would we put up with pro-Nazi comments? See my comment there. Reply Margaret Coats November 2, 2022 Thank you, Joshua, for your attention to the Ted Hayes poem where it was posted in 2019, and for the additional comment here assuring him his work is noticed. It seems that after three favorable comments, his poem got several that were rather circuitous about their opposition to his thought–and began by making fun of the entire topic. Not an edifying comment thread. Considering your analogy of pro-Nazi comments on a poem about the Holocaust, I would say his opponents weren’t taking the Nazi stance, but the position of Germans living under the Nazis who carelessly supported the evil going on around them: Nazis were doing as they chose, which is fine with others as long as they get to do the same. Reply Lucia Haase November 2, 2022 Thank you for your poems Margaret. Unfortunately, it’s not just California going off the deep end. I live in a rural town in Illinois and at least in my county and the several counties surrounding us here, they are refusing many of these gender idea programs (and books on the subject some schools are allowing.) I was so glad to read an article in our local paper that they are not accepting of these. However, some of the bigger cities in Illinois are. Also, the ‘woke’ movement is a crazy thing…I voted the first day of early voting. Too many chaotic things going on with the people that are in charge now. Reply Margaret Coats November 3, 2022 Thanks for reading and commenting, Lucia. Your words “chaotic things” strike the correct discordant note about those in charge, and especially about the disastrous effects of their policies on individuals and local communities. I am very happy to hear your good news about local resistance to teaching nonsense. There are places here where state-supplied materials are not used. This wastes taxpayer money, but it is more dangerous to waste time and minds. Reply Loretta G November 10, 2022 Dear Dr. Coats, I commend you for boldly tackling these two heinous topics and with such literary fervor and fluency! Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Dan Ward October 11, 2022 Thanks for shedding light on this. A brutal assault on parental authority, and on the sanctity and innocence of childhood. Reply
Margaret Coats October 11, 2022 Dan, thanks for your comment which is quite correct. All of us, no matter where we live, have a vote on these matters in upcoming elections. It is time to protect life and children and family with votes, contributions, and every effort we can make. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi October 11, 2022 What the bloody hell is WRONG with Californians? Why are they supporting this crap, and electing idiots like Newsom who promote it? Yes, it’s all horrible and disgusting. But shouldn’t we ask why the voting population of the state condones it? Is California truly the “land of fruits and nuts,” as we said back in the 1960s? Reply
Julian D. Woodruff October 11, 2022 California may be the state most far gone, but don’t you shake your head at the country as a whole, Joseph? Should Biden have received even one vote? Should there be any chance that Democrats would control either congressional chamber after the coming election? How long will the outrages against churches and pro-life pregnancy centers be tolerated, not to mention the Gestapo tactics against many who resist the Moloch -crazed barbarian hordes? Reply
Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 I looked for the quote about our form of government being suited only to a virtuous or religious people. All the Founding Fathers said the same thing, varying the words slightly.
R M Moore October 11, 2022 Too true, Joseph, and your’s is a good choice of words! But being ”progressive” has been festering the state for a long time. It is greatly upsetting for this native Californian to see, when I consider all the variety and beauty my state has had in abundance. It can recover those things, if people of good will stay and resist legally. Reply
Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Joseph, you are using the old gift-basket model for the state. The newer one is the toolbox with plenty of loose nuts and screws. Despite them, there are California fighters who use weapons as well as tools, and occasionally achieve victories. Traditional marriage was written into the state constitution in 2008 (preserving the institution with no discrimination against non-traditional domestic partnerships). Four Congressional districts made right turns in 2020. But it’s war against entrenched opponents. At present, they are in trouble because of rising costs of living, utilities mismanagement, and skyrocketing crime. That is a big reason Proposition One is on the ballot; they hope persons motivated by its radicalism (not by high prices, power outages, or the police) will turn out to vote in force. Reply
Patricia Redfern October 28, 2022 Dearest Joseph, This state, as you recall, nuts or not, produced one of the greatest Presidents of our Republic! Ronald Reagan! Many Conservatives still live here. I am one of them. Given the huge population, no, we are not ALL fruits and nuts. We vote against all these killer measures. We rallied for Trump. But both our Houses, and the madman, Newsom, remain in power. You do not know how awful it is to see his face! He is as bright as Biden, so, we work on registration, converse with our fellow man, too. We pay to have our children in religious schools and colleges. Many left this state, including Elon Musk. Please know we are in a fight to get the state back, please?? For the time being the nuts are in power. One day, they won’t be! Have mercy, I beg of you… Neither a fruit nor a nut. Patricia…. Reply
Patricia Redfern October 28, 2022 Joseph, excuse my error on Elon Musk Living here! Apologies.! Best I have some cofffee, right away! Regards, Patricia
Margaret Coats October 30, 2022 Patricia, thank you for your reading and comment. Indeed you and many Californians are working against the tide, but too many don’t understand the issues and may not even be concerned with them. We have some effective communicators, but we need dedicated leaders above the grass roots level. I am encouraged by Eric Early, who is running for state Attorney General. If you go to his website, you’ll see that he not only campaigns for himself, but has taken on the leadership role of endorsing good candidates for local school boards throughout California. There are five pages of names! These show that we have many competent Californians willing to spend time, effort, and money to do what Early calls “unleashing California.” Reply
Edward "Ted"Hayes November 1, 2022 Yes it is, Joseph. A further question might be: Why is it full of fruits and nuts? And not just California, but the growing number of states, and now school districts, who make the “nuttiness” of the sixties look almost harmless? Why are we, as a nation and civilization, wandering down Woke Street, with the final stop just out of sight around a not-far-distant bend? You have a better pen than I, and hopefully are not confined, like me, to a nursing home. I’d appreciate hearing from you and learning a few book titles which attempt answers, and hearing your willingness to write an article – or more- answering the question. SCP published my song lyric attacking (most) abortion about a year ago. Write, I’ll send you the song CD. With best regards. Ted Hayes. PhD Political Science, UC Berkeley, 1957 (I was there). [email protected] Reply
Margaret Coats November 2, 2022 Ted Hayes, I made a response to you which posted far below. Please look for it near the end of this comment thread. Thank you for your question responding to Dr. Salemi’s question! Reply
Brian Yapko October 11, 2022 Wow, Margaret. It’s years since I’ve followed California politics and this is a kick-in-the-pants reminder of not only why I don’t but why I fled Los Angeles in 2011 after living there for 37 years. Your poems are great albeit upsetting. Your poem on abortion puts a spotlight on the one-sided view recognized by the Leftist Hegemony concerning who has rights and who has no rights at all, even if it means the murder of a full term baby. And it’s noteworthy how little autonomy and decision-making power judges actually have. They are forced by the law to rubber stamp the most heinous of acts. Better to be a bricklayer. Your “Genderosity” (brilliant title) describes a state of affairs which is beyond belief. The state involvement you describe is horrible enough but to do this at taxpayer expense and to give immunity to “medical care providers” who refuse to cooperate with law enforcement? Confused children are sterilized, the mob in the streets revels, the world laughs at us, Beijing smiles with smug satisfaction and it’s no wonder you abandon rhyme altogether in the final stanza and throw your hands in the air in disgust at what is a clearly an outrageously debauched travesty of just and moral social policy. Thank you for the spotlight on these awful propositions which will undoubtedly pass by a landslide. California is lost. Reply
Brian Yapko October 11, 2022 Even worse — I just realized from your note that the “gender affirming” law has actually been passed by your legislature, signed by your governor and is going into effect in three months. I take that as confirmation of my assessment: California is indeed lost. Reply
Margaret Coats November 9, 2022 You were right, Brian. Proposition One passed by 65% to 35%. This is too large a margin to say the win was due to fraud, even though I first noticed major fraud in a close race 30 years ago, and cheating has only grown by winning. Ultimately, the continued victory of evil discourages good. But let me give credit to the Catholic Church for being the only leader of the opposition, and to the Orange County Register for being the only media outlet that carried full discussion of the issue on both sides. There was a barrage of misinformation and disinformation, on which the proponents spent $15 million. They were a little afraid abortion (up to the moment of birth for any reason) might not win.
Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Brian, thanks for your attention to the poems. Although judges cannot do much about bad laws, they have some little powers, such as deciding that a governor’s covid restrictions had stalled the people’s efforts to replace him, and granting more time. To block exercise of such powers, Proposition One recognizes no right to refuse an abortion, just in case anyone in the future might appeal to a judge concerning refusal by the baby or the father or even the mother herself. The full proposition’s language is curiously non-gendered, implying that any “individual” might choose an abortion. And if there were a right to refuse, not limited to the female gender, a refusal just might be made by any interested party. As for gender-affirming medical staff, and local police, they are not just granted immunity for failure to cooperate with law enforcement. Rather, they commit a crime if they carry out any court order concerning, or use any warrant to arrest, a gender-therapy patient or anyone accompanying a gender-therapy patient. This could be very convenient for anyone who makes the “seeking treatment” claim. Reply
Cynthia Erlandson October 11, 2022 Such tragedy, and irony, well-expressed, Margaret. Thank you. Reply
Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Thank you, Cynthia. There is tragic irony here, in the law and in the proposition, as well as in my expressions about them. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant October 11, 2022 Margaret, I applaud you for bringing to light the evils of your state legislature which serves as a grave warning as to what’s lurking in the legislative shadows worldwide. How low can the Western world sink … let’s hope the future still lies with all those working hard to pay their taxes and have a say in preserving the history, culture, and sanity of their surrounds. Your words are bold and impactful… just what we need in these times. I thank you wholeheartedly for every creative and informative one of them. Reply
Margaret Coats October 12, 2022 Thank you, Susan. Some of these words belong to our editor’s clarifying and smoothing them into their best sense. As I said above, they not only suggest what you and others may see elsewhere soon; they remind us that we must all take our part in preserving history, culture, and sanity (thank you for those words!). Vote as if this California chaos were on your ballot. Reply
Russel Winick October 11, 2022 Thanks for spotlighting these outrages, Margaret. This epitomizes what the Left has become. Reply
Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Thank you, Russel. I have looked forward a bit from what they say right now, but they doubtless see the potential for crime in a system that guarantees secrecy, freedom from liability, and contempt for law enforcement. Reply
Roy E. Peterson October 11, 2022 Margaret, I lived in California for a while until 2012, and realized how devilish the state had become. I returned to Texas for many reasons including social issues. You have brilliantly spotlighted just some of the things that are wrong with California, but two of the most heinous ones! San Francisco is Sodom and LA is Gomorrah with an evil administration in Sacrilege-mento! Reply
Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Roy, like Brian Yapko above and Joshua Frank below, you are some of the many Californians who are voting with their feet. One real estate company has awarded Governor Newsom the title of “Greatest Agent in the History of Real Estate” for persuading so many to sell their homes. The outflow of talent and tradition, and the planned influx of a different kind of society is startling. But we are looking in the right direction for help–namely, above! Reply
Joshua C. Frank October 11, 2022 Wow… powerful stuff! I used to live in California, and this kind of garbage is one of the major reasons I left. How awful that all this is happening. It’s even worse than you describe. Remember “A Villanelle for Robert Hoogland?” This legislation will ensure that anyone in the United States who objects will meet the same fate: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/california-becomes-first-sanctuary-state-for-child-exploitation “The law also effectively strips parents of custody by empowering California courts to take over ‘temporary emergency jurisdiction’ of children who travel to the state seeking sex-change treatments. Parents can do absolutely nothing to stop this. In fact, if they do try to protest the state’s kidnapping of their child, California officials will almost certainly work to make sure that the loss of custody becomes permanent. The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Scott Wiener, admitted as much in a recent interview: “‘We may have limits under the U.S. Constitution,’ he said, ‘but we are going to go right up to the edge of what we’re able to do to protect them and say, “Unless we are absolutely forced to send you back, we are not going to send you back.”’” Reply
Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Josh, thank you for posting Scott Wiener’s statement showing the intent to remove children from parents permanently. In “Genderosity” I point out that this LEGAL POWER TO SEPARATE AND TO DEFY LAW ENFORCEMENT can be, as it most certainly will be, used for evil purposes that have little or nothing to do with treatment of gender dysphoria. The state does ostensibly offer all benefits (a new secret life in a new place with no fear of intrusion by police) not only to children but also to any parent (or other supportive person) who wants gender therapy for a child. Human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world. Human traffickers cannot be arrested if they claim one of their young victims needs gender services. Foreign pimps get airfare and entry documents for themselves and “family” (if they are from a backward country restricting gender affirmation). Divorced parents need not obey court orders or injunctions. Estranged spouses get practical if not strictly legal divorce, and California pays child support. Runaways seeking Hollywood stardom get free hotel and spending money and studio tutors to finish their education–or so they see it. Most will end up as child labor or prostitutes. Police cannot detain them or arrest their exploiters as long as there is a claim the individual wants gender services. None of this actually requires a child to submit to drugs or surgery: services start with sympathetic counseling. But those who do proceed may become exotic bodies that command higher prices in the prostitution marketplace. Reply
R M Moore October 11, 2022 Thank you, Margaret. What you use poetry for is what I use music for. Will try to attend Church Sunday. Reply
Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 I hope to see you there! Thanks for this comment, and for the one addressed to Joseph Salemi above, mentioning the variety and beauty California possesses in abundance. When you speak of Californians who remain in the state and legally resist its perversion, I think of the heroic Opal Singleton, founder of the Million Kids organization, who works untiringly with law enforcement to rescue children here and elsewhere. May her efforts to counteract seducers continue to flourish despite all challenges! Reply
Mary Gardner October 11, 2022 Margaret, these poems bring to light the demonic situation in your otherwise beautiful California. They are jarring, but I thank you for writing them. Reply
Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Thank you, Mary. We do have beauty material and spiritual here, and if you don’t know of Opal Singleton, whom I mention to R M Moore above, look her up and take heart at her opposition to the demonic situation kids often encounter online. Reply
James Sale October 12, 2022 I love poetry that pays attention to small technical details: the final triplet and its failure to rhyme is just such a detail – And shelter for too many crimes to rhyme – but the true poet simply can’t accept the true ugliness of the non-rhyme, so you’ve smuggled in an internal one. Brilliant! Reply
Margaret Coats October 13, 2022 Thank you, James. To rise above expository rant on a deeply troublesome topic, this poem needed a brilliant finishing touch, and now, on your authority, I can say it has one! Reply
David Watt October 13, 2022 Margaret, you rightfully bring to attention two extremely one-sided anti-family propositions/laws. I also like the creativity of your “Genderosity” title, and the purposeful non-rhyme conclusion to this piece. Reply
Margaret Coats October 14, 2022 Thanks, David, for taking time to comment. Your attention is especially welcome because the matter of the poems provokes disgust in response. So does ridiculous thought and language in the law and proposition, such as designating specific acts “fundamental rights.” But this marks an area for poets as well as philosophers to try to make some sense of it all! Reply
Margaret Coats October 14, 2022 Clare, thank you for reading, and if your full comment didn’t come through, please try again! For one thing Californians may not realize about Proposition One, please see my reply to Sally Cook below. Reply
sally cook October 14, 2022 Dear Margaret – Thanks for these strong and skillful powms., Two things that give me nightmares are the murder of nine month old babies both in and out of the womb – (you can call it nothing else), and this evil, ugly “gender-affirming” attack on our children. I mean both of those quite literally. Good and evil still exist. Reply
Margaret Coats October 14, 2022 So they do, Sally, and evil always tries to hide nightmarish things it does and plans. As I understand, having read up on the subject, the murder of a nine-month-old baby, soon to be born, is NOT currently legal in California. Rather, if the child can survive outside the womb (which is possible from about six months), he or she must not be killed. Proposition One will make late-term murder legal by saying that the state must not “deny or interfere with” [set limits on] abortion. BUT THE OFFICIAL BALLOT HIDES THIS! It says the Proposition will have “no direct fiscal impact because reproductive rights already are protected by state law.” In other words, the ballot that everyone will see claims Proposition One merely puts into the state constitution what is already in state law. Many voters, who would be aghast at killing a viable infant, will think voting for Proposition One just affirms the status quo. Let’s hope they find out the truth and all vote against this evil. Reply
CARL PHILLIPS October 31, 2022 Thank you, Margaret for addressing this important issue. You have a real gift with the English language. To paraphrase an old quote from Billy Graham, if God doesn’t destroy California, He owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. Reply
Margaret Coats October 31, 2022 You are right, Carl. Thanks for reading and commenting. Our only hope is in the memory that the patriarch Abraham interceded for Sodom, and God promised He would not destroy it if He could find ten good men there. As it turned out, Abraham’s nephew Lot was the only man worth saving, and even his wife was lost for looking back. We have our Apostle Junipero Serra and all the saints of the California missions, as well as the Queen of Angels herself (patroness of Los Angeles) to intercede for us. I wonder how many good men it will take for God to continue to spare the state. We are losing them, as several previous commentors have shown, and at the same time continuing the salvific conflict. Reply
Margaret Coats November 2, 2022 Thank you, Ted, for your contribution to this discussion. The question of why Californians and others are unthinking fruits and nuts and screws is important. My incomplete answer is that persons commit the fundamental sin of pride in viewing themselves as gods. I have looked at your poem “Abortion Rites” and made a comment there. My very best wishes to you in your current situation that calls for my sympathy and prayers, and you have them as well. Reply
Joshua C. Frank November 2, 2022 I just read “Abortion Rites;” it’s quite effective at showing what a horror the whole thing is. However, I found many of the pro-abortion comments sickening, especially in response to such a powerful poem… not to mention the fact that no one stood up to them. If someone wrote a poem about the Holocaust, would we put up with pro-Nazi comments? See my comment there. Reply
Margaret Coats November 2, 2022 Thank you, Joshua, for your attention to the Ted Hayes poem where it was posted in 2019, and for the additional comment here assuring him his work is noticed. It seems that after three favorable comments, his poem got several that were rather circuitous about their opposition to his thought–and began by making fun of the entire topic. Not an edifying comment thread. Considering your analogy of pro-Nazi comments on a poem about the Holocaust, I would say his opponents weren’t taking the Nazi stance, but the position of Germans living under the Nazis who carelessly supported the evil going on around them: Nazis were doing as they chose, which is fine with others as long as they get to do the same. Reply
Lucia Haase November 2, 2022 Thank you for your poems Margaret. Unfortunately, it’s not just California going off the deep end. I live in a rural town in Illinois and at least in my county and the several counties surrounding us here, they are refusing many of these gender idea programs (and books on the subject some schools are allowing.) I was so glad to read an article in our local paper that they are not accepting of these. However, some of the bigger cities in Illinois are. Also, the ‘woke’ movement is a crazy thing…I voted the first day of early voting. Too many chaotic things going on with the people that are in charge now. Reply
Margaret Coats November 3, 2022 Thanks for reading and commenting, Lucia. Your words “chaotic things” strike the correct discordant note about those in charge, and especially about the disastrous effects of their policies on individuals and local communities. I am very happy to hear your good news about local resistance to teaching nonsense. There are places here where state-supplied materials are not used. This wastes taxpayer money, but it is more dangerous to waste time and minds. Reply
Loretta G November 10, 2022 Dear Dr. Coats, I commend you for boldly tackling these two heinous topics and with such literary fervor and fluency! Reply
