marching

When registering for the Women's March on Washington, it asked me why I was marching. I'm not sure if I am done with this yet but in honor of the march this weekend, here it is.

marching

I am marching 

to stand up and be counted. 

to not let those men

in the halls of influence

rest easy,

and sit back in comfortable armchairs

because we're coming for you.

feel the ground already shaking

the air already shimmering

with our shriek

Reminding them

that there are barbarians

at the gates.

Yes, Sheroes and rebels

and warriors. 

We tell the world

a history, a future

that we don't go down quietly or forgotten

and watch our dreams go quietly 

We did not loosen our grasp,

frozen, observing them

sinking below cold deep waters

burning the world, watching them

curl into ash and blow

across nothing but sooty plains.

--

I am marching 

to tell the ones with all those zeros

at the ends of their names

that 1 is still 1

that 1 + 1 is still 2.

one person, one family, 

one klan, one kind

or even just: one

and their sumptuousness

and their supremacy

and their sense of 'security'

are still just one

not worth more than one life

not worth any other.

In fact

I owe a debt to those trampled, 

and to those who are yet to be

thrown under the wheels.

With no justice 

there is no peace.

And we choose liberty over death.

And I choose liberty for them.

I'll carry any absent women

with me in my footsteps

as best I can

Because wherever two or three gather, 

there am I.

For better or for worse,

til death do us part

I am this land.