Welcome to my newest weekly feature, Fuel for the Fire, where, every Monday, I’ll post a passage from a book I’ve read recently that has moved, challenged, inspired, or humbled me.
I’m currently reading Kai Cheng Thom’s debut poetry collection, A Place Called No Homeland, and I could quote every one of her poems here, because they are all fierce and beautiful and stunning. But here’s one passage that’s been resonating with me the past few days, especially after being at the Women’s March this past Saturday, and thinking about what it means to show up, who we show up for, and why, so often, we don’t.
“where are our elders? who can teach us how to justice, not just on tumblr
but on the dance floor in our homes in each other’s arms?
i think we gotta stop fetishizing survival we are all survivors
that’s why we all
bleed so much i used to think blood was so beautiful have to remember
we are more than scars
gotta stop fetishizing the dead
sometimes i need more than ghosts to fill my stomach
my pockets my bed my poems need to live for the living
i want to be able to honestly
tell the difference between those who didn’t make it and
those we left behind”
from “queer tribe” in A Place Called No Homeland
Additionally, some recent non-book fuel:
Book Open 
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