Deb Nanson
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2015/07/30/a-place-to-call-home
about Evergreen 2
The second chapbook to be released by Deb Nanson, these poems were written during her incarceration and eventual rehabilitation. Detailing her journeys, struggles, addictions and losses, Evergreen 2 measures the past with an honest voice. These poems are brutally honest, open and tender.
from Evergreen 2
untitled
-Dec 30/04
reaching deeper than i thought i could ever reach inside my mind, i have
touched a place that was so deeply wounded
there was nothing dysfunctional love could do to dull this ache, the ache
i have no means to repair in a normal setting
welcome to my world complete with physical abuse, verbal abuse and with
some sad reason a place to perform this unwritten play called my life
reaching deep i realize that the feelings i carry are of fear based
hatred
an emotion i shall carry through out my existence on this family
plane
then i found i could do that also along with be able to find a new way to
to alleviate the pain stuff down the anger
go on with life as i know it to be
beatings
more beatings
bruises
scars
entering this feeling of an i do not have to take anymore of this
enter drugs
enter
men sex condoms, no condoms, no sex just act of false pretenses one
might say
i'd say robbery
enter the robberies of life
robbery of self
Niagara has lost a legend, and we at Grey Borders have lost a sister.
Local Activist and Poet Deborah Lynn Bell Nanson passed away this week, of natural causes after a long and hard-fought battle with cancer, at the age of 59.
Deborah was a fearless advocate and activist for the less fortunate and forgotten in society. She was there for those who had no other soul in the world to turn to. From her multiple shelters and drop-in centers to her pop-up food banks and her sandwich drives and Easter egg hunts, she did everything in her power to make the world around her a little less dark for the rest of us.
But for some, she did soo much more. Deborah was addictions councillor, legal advocate, social worker, nurse and even death doula to so many of our forgotten.
When the broken needed someone, when the police saw a person, they knew needed a bed and a shoulder and a hand rather than a cell and cuffs, they called on Deb, and she would drop everything and come running.
When a woman stood alone, with no advocate and a sheet of convictions, Deb would come to her side.
When a sister was released with nowhere to go, no one and nothing to turn to other than to turn back to the streets, Deb was there.
When a lost soul lay broken and dying, it was Deb who came to their side and found their families, and made sure they were laid to rest with the dignity every one of us deserves.
She was there because she knew it was her duty, to do what others had done for her. Because as Deb always said, I am She, She is Me, We are one. As a child she dreamt of being a lawyer and advocate and even moreso, a Daredevil. In our eyes, that’s exactly what she became.
Our deepest sympathies go out to Deborah’s Family and Friends and to her community, all of whom she loved so deeply and completely. Services for Deborah will be held This Saturday May the 4th, 2019 at Westview Christian Fellowship 124 Queenston Street St Catharines, at 11 am. Reception will follow. Donations can be made at Westview to help the family with the cost of Deborah’s gravestone.
