Election Night 2016

I sat glued to the television, listening to the predictions of so many pundits. The hope of a nation on their lips. But...What did they know? Numbers poured in, graphs changed, a map turned spotted blue & red, red, and more red ... my country was bleeding...

By 2 a.m. it was over... I sat there raw, speechless, angry tears of betrayal filled my eyes, streamed down my cheeks... I would never forget this intimate wounding...  our country had just been raped...of its ideology, of it's potential not yet realized.

The full effects of this assault were yet to be felt... equality and freedom were just dreams once more...darkened by the nightmare that had just become reality. 

How did this happen?

As it always does...

By that "charming," phony acquaintance promising the world. That slick date that came so highly recommended by others...  you trusted too quickly, out of desperation... acquiesced out of fear of the inevitable.

The electoral college vote, like a rape kit, was mere formality; the outcome already predictable. You go through the motions, permit yourself to hope that justice still exists...cling to it like a safety raft amidst the rough, hateful seas of your despair.

Weeks go by. Months. They say, "get over it."  Time heals. But it doesn't.  You see him claim other victims. Gain more power... the hunting dog mouthing so many birds...whose capture is celebrated, rewarded... trophies of a proud predator.

In disbelief, you pick at your own wound, pull off the scab of denial that you'd grown accustomed to....Unwilling to permit your feathered sisters to be blatantly targeted by this or any other canine, the weakness of Aves implied and expected.

You will not be silenced.
We will not be silenced.

We are destined to rise from the ashes of these woundings...
Like so many Phoenix

And we will...

We will Rise.



artwork by Julie Enser of Enser Creations:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/EnserCreations/photos/?ref=page_internal