come on down to the Mermaid Cafe

                    and our mothers shall lead us

grey haired with the wisdom of their years
plastic buckets and metal bowls as drums to pound with their voices
(this is not their first rodeo)
	
and we shall be heard
	chanting
    chanting
because we march for our daughters
			and our sons
	    we march for our mothers
			and ourselves

there is a photo going around 
a grey-haired woman with a sign
	“I can’t believe I still have to protest this fucking shit”
and i agree
	i agree so hard my ovaries hurt

this fight has been fought
	we are well on our way to equality
	
but no, no, no clearly that’s false
		 	or maybe it was true and just isn’t anymore

we are still fighting for women’s equality
we are still fighting for autonomy and the right to say no
		or yes
we are still fighting for freedom of choice when it comes to what grows inside us

and i’ve been angry about this for a long time
	blood-boiling mad
	because so many people seem so blind to reality
			otherwise we wouldn’t have to keep fighting these fights
					these same fights that we thought we already won

i’ve been saying that The Handmaid’s Tale is not supposed to be an instruction manual
but i’m going to take a heel turn here and say that NOW it is
	i’m going to reread it as a cautionary tale of complacency 
	i’m going to reread it as a reminder that it’s never too late to fight
	i’m going to reread it as an instruction manual against the fascist patriarchy

from here i hope to be one of the mothers that lead us
	because this is not the way i want to live 
		   this is not the way i want my son to grow into a man
		   this is not okay