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Millennium Development Goals (A Poem)

24/8/2016

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​Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations made eight
Hoping to make mankind better
Maybe even great

Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
That should be easy with global prosperity

Achieve universal primary education
Every child deserves at least one graduation
  
Promote gender equality and empower women
Making the inheritance laws and pay cheques even  

Reduce the infant mortality rate
Children belong in parks not at Heaven's gate 

Improve maternal health
Not just for those with substantial wealth

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Everything that causes runny noses, coughing, and wheezes
 
Ensure environmental sustainability
Retaining the resources and the accountability 

Create a global partnership for development  
Not just for big budget corporate entitlement

Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations made eight
I hope we haven't missed the boat
I hope we're not too late

by Cheryl Duggan
August 24th, 2016
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I ... (A Short Poem)

24/8/2016

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I know who I am 
I love what I do
I won't take any crap
Especially from you 

by Cheryl Duggan
August 24th, 2016 (5:30 a.m.)  
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The Tenant Rep (A Poem)

17/8/2016

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She is the rep for my community
Living in a unit on a financial subsidy 
With her 30 year long time bed buddy 
While he works full time at security
And she collects ODSP - Disability

Maybe that's none of my business ...
But I can't help but think that 
TCHC and ODSP should revoke her immunity

She is in charge of the Christmas hamper
The original shipping list she does tamper
She doles the food out to those she can pamper
Then off they scurry and off they scamper
Even the super leaves a happy camper.

Maybe that's none of my business ...
But I can't help but think that 
There should be an independent rubber stamper

She lied when she filed a report with a cop
She claimed to be missing HER laptop 
After someone had made her door lock go "Pop!"
In fact, the stolen comp belonged to her fop
Lying is her lifestyle .. She'll never stop.

Maybe that's none of my business ... 
But I can't help but think that
With fables as good as her's she could be Aesop

She declared personal bankruptcy last year
For our community finances I do fear
The lack of accountability makes everything unclear
After pulling out my hair and shedding many a tear
I can't make the account books magically appear 

Maybe that's none of my business ... 
But I can't help but think that 
This situation needs an unapologetic mutineer  

She only recycles the gossip and lies
Her environmental footprint she vehemently denies
Throwing out scraps of truth in bags with twist ties
Oblivious to the approaching cloud as time flies
She may be an old woman but she is far from wise

Maybe that's none of my business ... 
But I can't help but think that  
Karma is anxiously awaiting her downfall ... her demise

by Cheryl Duggan
​August 17th, 2016
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The Ew's and Ah's of Spring

24/4/2016

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Picture
Ew
the bugs
the spiders
bees, flies, & fleas
mosquitos and slugs

Ah  
sunshine
glass of wine
a golden glow 
on the patio

Ew
the mud
the water
in the basement
from puddle to flood

Ah
colours
the flowers
in the garden
the sky ... a rainbow


by ​Cheryl Duggan
April 12th, 2016 
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My Ex BFF (A Poem)

3/3/2016

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I packed my OCD, and a weeks worth of clothes
in another city, outside her door, is where I froze
this is where I will be for the next seven days
hoping that when she asked for my help it wasn't just a faze  

the stench overpowering when she opened the front door
kitty litter among the clutter in the middle of the floor
she complains about the smell of other people's perfume
oblivious to the odour coming from her own living room  

trying to organize her apartment to be fumigated    
at the end of week one only one room was vacated 
a complete contradiction are the items she has in store
cleaners, containers, and garbage bags galore

soaps, shampoos, shower gels and conditioners
which she claimed not to have to any of her listeners
there was clothing, and bedding and balls of wool
crochet projects that had to be cut ... you couldn't pull

I seriously began to lose all sense of sanity
when she decided to waste time rearranging the vanity
she didn't like how I had organized her soap basket
wasting 'our' time reshuffling ... I almost blew a gasket
 
it's understandable the level of anxiety she must feel
not able to get into her kitchen to cook a decent meal  
telling me she would make me food if she could reach
I called her out on her B.S. & I gave her a speech
 
you've been cleaning your bedroom for over four days
you've moved stuff to a new pile, that's where it all stays
all of those clothes that you're so intent on keeping
even if it interferes with the space where your sleeping

the undercover bedbugs were on full nightly patrol
the flies seemed to have the aerials under air force control
one was determined to take giant chunks out of me 
the other covered any spare surface your eyes could see

at one point she asked me to tackle the kitchen
I told her that enabling her was not part of my mission
I suggested how she might begin the cleaning process
she just treated this situation like it was school recess  

her landlord had threatened to kick her out on the street  
unfortunately I think hoarding has my ex BFF beat
I don't think she understands the depth of her trouble
I have no clue what will break her out of her bubble

I did everything to help her that I possibly could
definitely way more than what most people would
I bought Chinese food for two the final night I was there 

I knew I was ending this friendship ... so that was only fair
 

it's not easy to watch someone fall off a pedestal
or realise that maybe they never belonged up there at all 
but by far the most confusing thing to me 
was how can she be acting as someone else's trustee?

by Cheryl Duggan
March 3, 2016
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The New Life Form (A Poem)

15/2/2016

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I hope that the new life form
     is a product of your sperm
I hope that the baby mama
     can carry it to term

I hope that when it's born
     it brings tears to your eyes
I hope that the baby mama 
     doesn't tolerate your lies

I hope that when you leave her 
     it's with an explanation
That you don't let the silence
     act as an exclamation.

by Cheryl Duggan
February 15th, 2016

​

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For My Little Brother Dave (A Poem)  

10/2/2016

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He jumped off a bridge in Vancouver BC
Long after he had come to visit with me
He lived for a while after that fatal fall
All bruised and battered in a hospital.

He’d been trying for decades to do himself in
His chances of survival were extremely thin

I wish I could have been there
I wish I could have done more
Honestly, what else are big sisters for?

Now that he is on the other side
He knows that I told the truth
He knows that I never lied

I wrote her a letter
I asked the questions and she never replied
At least not to a point where I was satisfied!

If she’d left him alone
He could have had a life
A place to call home
A job … a family … a wife …

For her there was hell to pay
On her judgement day
For all those evil deeds
And the nasty things she’d say.

For him there is peace
For my little brother Dave
Even as a child he had to be so brave

Brave enough to jump off a bridge in Vancouver BC
Long after he had come to visit with me.


with love,
Cheryl Anne

Written May 4th, 2013
Posted on the tenth anniversary of his death.



​
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MY Daughter (A Poem)

31/1/2016

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The first time he heard about you
he denied it could be true.
You couldn't possibly be his baby #2.
He thought you were someone else's ...
     told me that we're through.

When you were born he began to realize  
that what I said wasn't a pack of lies.   
After a full day of labour ... one final push ... .SURPRISE!
Looking at you it was obvious. 
     You had his eyes.

He couldn't get between mother and son
So at you he decided  to take a big run.
Right through the front door as if for fun
If the courts wouldn't give him two  ...
     maybe the judge would grant him one.

Upon filing for support and visitation
the court ordered first step was mediation.
Your father claimed I was the one with the addiction.
The mediator sided with him
     in her final decision.

Meanwhile, late every second Friday night
I would pack your bags without turning on a light.
Hiding them up in the closet way out of sight 
So that you wouldn't know he was a no-show
     and we wouldn't fight.

He lost any opportunity in a fit of rage.
One profound enough he ended up in a cage.
His mom was disappointed that he didn't act his age.
She would have testified against him
     if it got to that stage.
 
My lawyer was prepared to set another date.
His lawyer decided that it was already too late.
That one final punch had sealed his fate
The risk of one of the children getting hurt 
     was far too great.

The final decision was in my favour
But it wasn't something that I could savour
It had a somewhat bitter flavour 
"Daddy's Little Girl" without her saviour
     had to be a hell of a lot braver.   


​by Cheryl Duggan
January 31rst, 2016

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"Diss" able (A Poem)

24/11/2015

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Don't "diss" me 
Cuz I'm able 
To do far more
Than you give me credit for

(Just a little poem I wrote about ten years ago) 

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Homelessness Is Only One Piece Of My Puzzle: Implications For Policy And Practice

19/11/2015

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Within the covers of this document that promises to provide "frameworks that can help us support those who are homeless [while] work[ing] towards preventing and ultimately ending homelessness" are eight of my poems with accompanying visual art pieces.   The following is just one of those paired sets.​    

Aloha Big Kahuna

couch surfing as necessity
is ‘gnarly’ and ‘extreme’
‘hang ten’ is difficult
‘hang twenty’ is supreme

not being the ‘grubbing’
‘sponger’ ‘dude’ & ‘dudette’
means the odd ‘mush’ or ‘keg’
taken out of ‘pocket’

no playing with the ‘woody’
or getting the ‘buoy’ ‘naked’
no room to deal with ‘swells’
can’t even fit the ‘snake’ in

there is only one ‘priority’
on someone else’s turf
get your own ‘360’ ‘board’
​your own ‘rad’ place to ‘surf’ 
Picture
There are hidden meanings that will help bring the collection together.  First, all the base images were created in black and white. That represents the approach current policies indicate homelessness can be dealt with. Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all application of theory or practice.  The second secret is related to the accessories applied to each image.  They are either candy or toys. They are an allusion to the fact that homelessness issues are sugar coated &/or treated as child's play.         
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