by Coryn Clark
12 September 2021
Manchester, CT
In this nation,
may there be a shadow docket
of women telling their stories
by moonlight,
the amicus briefings
of lives embraced and empowered
when few other options were offered.
In this country,
may we be pro-voice*,
learn from each other’s lives,
and pass laws so a woman does not have to
choose between having a baby
and affording her rent
or feeding the others
or attending school
or being free of the one who
abandoned or raped her.
In this commonwealth,
may we first ask
What do you need?
rather than
When was the first day of your last period?
(*Pro-Voice: How to Keep Listening When the World Wants a Fight by Aspen Baker)
*****
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