After All We’ve Accomplished
Janet Kuypers
6/25/22, edited 7/1/22
After the Honor Roll
After acceptance into the third best college in the country
After the Dean’s List
After the big city job
that paid more than the men she dated
After battling for our lives
After piloting an airplane
After jumping out of an airplane
After swimming with sharks
After swimming in the Southern Ocean
and camping close to the South Pole
After taking care of the house
After keeping finances in order
After raising the children, only
After putting our lives on hold
After being a television star
After being a rock star
After being a movie star
After traveling the world
to bring food and water
to third world countries
After running for Congress
After being a Senator
After being the Secretary of State
After holding a seat on the Supreme Court
After winning a Nobel Peace Prize
from using my brain
After being the Vice President
After running for Presidency
—
After doing so much
After accomplishing so much
Some bastards who know nothing
Of the plights of women
Try to decide they know
What’s best for a woman’s private parts
They try to come along
And strip us of our most basic rights
Our right to our bodies,
Our right to choose
Haven’t we fought this battle before?
After all we’re accomplished,
What more do we have to do
When religious conservatives believe
We’re worth less than
something that’s never lived?
Why does the weaker sex
Choose to take away the rights
Of the sex who truly has the power
To choose when to start life —
And really, why have we
Been so pigeon-holed,
that we have to work, again,
To prove to the ignorant
That they’re wrong?
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