On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reversing a decision which for nearly half a century gave American women the constitutional right to abortion.
Roe
As in To Row,
to steer the ship,
to Navigate your life across this treacherous body
of uncharted waters, uncivilized, the thrill
of the sea teeming
with possibility, only the I of You guiding the helm.
Your hands might be trembling
but you'll take the oars with a strength
belonging to you alone, anchored
in the stories of women before you.
Wade
As in To Wade, oblivious,
until water becomes sky,
willing this body to the tide.
Maybe it’s an undertow
or something worse -
washing over a vessel
that belongs only to them.
We hope for some savior to rescue us,
to pull us from these dark waters
but who is to steer a broken ship
with no captain?
Today, America decided for us.
Sisters, we
are not enough
to pilot our own lives, our bodies
someone else’s to reign over, to decide
if we sink or swim, or drown,
or win;
half-sunk, brined from the salt
of our own grief, having lost
the I, the thing that sings Self.
Autonomy has
capsized, because this boat
has been overturned.
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