Poetry: “golden shovel after my mother’s affidavit for MAiD” by Kay Kassirer
Kay Kassirer’s “golden shovel after my mother’s affidavit for medical assistance in dying,” is not an easy poem. It’s a difficult poem to consider but that’s why it’s important. Kassirer isn’t pretending that the ugly parts of inequality don’t exist but rather they are expressing their anger at this broken system. It’s hard to read because it’s painful but also because it’s urgent. In a time where our rights are systematically being stripped from us, the ugly and the painful and the difficult parts of our system are the first things to talk about. We hope to make space for these voices. We can’t look away. We need to look these poems right in the eye and see firsthand how poetry can make space, make change, make hope.
Kay Kassirer
Kay Kassirer (they/them) is a spoken word poet currently residing on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations - colonially known as Vancouver. Their autobiographical poetry focuses on gender & sexuality, grief, disability, and sex work. Kay has toured internationally performing at venues like Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Busboys and Poets, and the Bowery Poetry Club. They have competed at over a dozen national and international poetry slam festivals earning their place on several competitive final stages. Notably, Kay placed 2nd at Capturing Fire International Queer Slam (2016), and 3rd at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (2018) and the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam (2019). Kay curated and edited ‘A Whore’s Manifesto: An Anthology of Writing and Artwork by Sex Workers’ published by Thornapple Press. Their work has been featured in numerous places, including Button Poetry, Slamfind, Write About Now, and Arc Poetry Magazine.
