I never joined the Girl Guides,
NDP or Greenpeace.
There are millions of others
to do that, millions more worthy,
though I inspired a movement
the day I was born-the MSQ-
Mothers for the Status Quo.
We didn't know who my father was
but my mother was head of the MSQ
and I was born pink and healthy
in spite of the letter she received
warning of a kidnap plot.
She always had her suspicions
about the travellers and strangers
that passed through Uranium Town.
They came to complain
about the mine,
sang protest songs
on the steps of the municipal hall,
their demonstrations broadcast
with cutting edge technology.
She memorized their faces,
reviled their phony passion.
Taking our town hostage, she said,
they were the harbingers of doom.
We would simply wait out
the conflicts, skirmishes, coups,
desert storms and CNN theme songs.
We were not frightened
of anything so far away.
I was born pink and healthy,
in spite of everything.

-from Sideways by Heather Haley (Anvil $14) 1-895636-54-X

[BCBW 2003]