Political Poem: The Perseverance of Women, by Talia Lehrer

Each march a display of collective strength
shattering bars constructing cages of our own homes

Demanding permission to display inherent skill and
solve equations–to prove the answer of a pay gap false

Channeling fury from the fickle nature of their promise
of a timeless option to abort unwanted constraints

We disobeyed unjust calls to clean and cook
instead boiled up legislation to protect against abuse

Foremothers forged new bills engraved with our names
then etched signatures on ballots with manicured fingers.

Small victories ticked off until race ceased to dictate
ability to advocate for oneself in government.

Our stilettos pierced holes in the patriarchy
then patched voids from positions of power

But what victory is a right to property
when our bodies become puppets
of another