Dear government,

​

We all learned the states song in 2nd grade.
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado... Connecticut!
We all learned about how babies are made in 5th grade
and how if you grow one without wanting to,
without being able to,
you can get rid of it.
We all learned about the constitution in 8th grade.
About our freedom,
about our rights.

​

Who is going to tell their 14-year-old self that their rights have been taken away,
that even if their clothes were stripped by a stranger, their freedom has been stripped by
another one.
And then whose 14-year-old self is going to tell their 11-year-old self that they actually can’t
get rid of the baby,
can’t get an abortion
because instead of eliminating the embryo that could kill them
you eliminated their right to the choice.
That they have to have a baby, even if it will kill them.
That their life is now over because another has yet to begin.
And then whose 11-year-old self is going to tell their 8-year-old self that Alabama is bad.
That in Alabama you don’t have control over your body.
Same with Arkansas and Arizona

but that in California and Connecticut you do
and that Alaska hasn’t decided yet.

 

Tell me who is going to do it.
Tell me
who is going to go back in time,
unwind the clocks
to take the red, white, and blue from our crayon box
and change everything we have learned because you
just flipped the lives of women
upside down.

Tell me.

 

Because it sure isn’t going to be me, government.
It sure isn’t going to be me.