Change? What Change?

by Laura Daniels


A hundred years ago in 1922
women’s suffrage was beginning.
Weapons were pistols, rifles, and Tommy guns;
the 19^th Amendment passed, but women wanted more.
Tommy guns were reserved for gangsters and movies. 
 
Now in 2022
abortion is ruled illegal, dissolving a fifty-year right.
Open carry of a firearm is the law of the land;
states can decide what a woman can do with her body.
At present, zip codes determine our rights and our safety.  
 
A hundred years from now in 2122 
Will we still be denying women human rights or worse? 
Will we still subject women to backstreet abortions or worse?
Will we still be allowing open carry of assault rifles or worse?
Will innocent children and bystanders still be getting gunned down or worse?  


* * * * *

“Change? What Change” was first published in the Poetry Marathon Anthology (2022).

Laura Daniels founded the Facebook blog The Fringe 999 - https://www.facebook.com/groups/399191694738673 and @thefringe999. She is curated in Visible Ink Anthology, New Jersey Bards Anthology, Wingless Dreamer Dulce Poetica Anthology, Silver Birch Press, and Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and is an active member of Women Who Write. Her poems grew from a love of nature and Jersey, where she lives with her family in Mt Arlington.