Tag Archives: Dobbs v. Jackson

WOMEN’S MARCH

I would not trade away today

despite the perilous fray

sure to come.

Interesting times they say

should be avoided.

Yet, history turns her gaze

on such days

making us preciously aware

of what truly matters.

Attentively, I hold my heart steady,

bracing, by body ready.

I have marched through the nation’s streets

with tired legs on weary feet

for too many years to count,

hoping to finally count for something.

Ever more alert,

our marching tread announcing

we are here, here to stay.

History has our ear

exactly as we feared.

Today we march side by side

hoping to turn history’s tide.

There is no place to hide

from white male supremacy,

and the greedy bully

too many ride.

I know not what today will bring.

I pray it brings victory and pride

that our Republic has not yet died.

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LAMENTATION

Little girl, bambina,

treasure of daddy’s heart.

A girl-child set gracefully apart

from the boys running free beyond the yard.

Little girl, bambina,

kneeling in the pew.

A girl-child quietly humming the chorus

while the boys sing free up in the choir loft.

Little girl, bambina

patiently waiting for adulthood

a girl-child home obeying family rules

while the boys explore the world.

Little girl, bambina

now grown and flown from home

no longer a mere girl-child

but an America woman fully grown.

How blessed to be an American woman;

Though Italian, and Catholic grown.

Now free to run alongside the  boys.

The world is yours to own.

Little girl, bambina

delighted to be free

and equal to any boy or man.

That is what it means to be an American.

Little girl, bambina,

no treasure now are you aware.

A woman without freedom nor equality,

is your burden, once more, to bear.

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WOMEN AND CHILDREN

The child belongs to the parent.

The child’s thoughts are subject to approval,

The child’s actions under authoritarian  rule.

Bedtime, mealtime, doctor’s visits, school,

playmates, inside or outside, work time or playtime;

all regulated by others.

Discipline applied with no guaranteed appeal.

Childhood is a time of fierce lack of control.

No freedom even to choose to speak or stay silent.

No choices at all until the child grows tall.

Each birthday a gift in itself that freedom is coming.

Children count the days in years.

We all remember those days.

Those days have returned for women.

Their lives are no longer their own.

Their choices are not free.

Their silence is demanded and enforced by law.

Their privacy is invaded by others’ will.

Their paths are  reduced to only those others allow.

Women are now punishable by law.

Women are not children.

Women do not play at life.

Women are life, and that life is their own.

No legal argument can change that truth.

No man can return us to his control.

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State’s Rights and Fascist Court ?

I just ate an entire bag of Milano double dark chocolate cookies. Better that than crying in outrage that separation of church and state has overcome our constitutional rights as white politicians within the Republican Party exploit the personal faith of voters to retain their control of government. Why? Because of their racism and sexism, and gender fears. And, to allow corporate and private wealth to stay in power through them, personally rewarding them financially and supporting filling their campaign chests.

These protagonists blocked the Equal Rights Amendment for women in my youth. Women finally got the right to vote but it and other civil rights have never explicitly been assured. This is one reason the privacy rights under the constitution was used to explain why women have a legal civil right to decide their health care rights and family planning rights.

This same reasoning was used to protect a couple’s right to use birth control. That right is now also facing elimination according to Justice Thomas’ dissent.

The Supreme Court is our greatest and final protector of our freedoms and civil rights. Today, the court threw women to the wolves. They invaded the privacy right of a woman to her own body. They destroyed a woman’s right to safeguard her mental and physical health. Her rights no longer belong to her. They belong to state legislatures. women no longer have rights equal to men in this nation.

We have been here before. Despite the end of enslavement of African-Americans recognition of their civil rights took another 100 years to secure. And, those rights, including the right to vote are again, still, under siege. The Voting Rights Act has been eviscerated. Will the supreme Court’s States Rights Rule now be applied to any individual’s right to equality and freedoms? This case opens that door. The decision today directs us through that door.

The violence and intimidation against women is now supported by our Supreme Court, using its judicial powers. I fear it will soon be the same for people of color, LGBTQT community … indeed any group the white supremacist leaders supported by our churches think they have a right to control.

Today’s decision is far worse than overturning abortion rights. It overturns equal rights. I fear it is not only women who are under threat. Our very identity as a free society , as an American society, was destroyed today.

I am out of cookies. Out of words. Only tears remain. Fascist Court? Not usually 2 words that go together. They do now!

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