Hush Hush

If fireworks can scream

why can’t we

It was hush hush 

when my mom was sixteen

and noticed a peer

disappeared for nine months

babies aren’t quiet

but their mothers always had to be

I am not quiet

when I am pleasured

I am not quiet when

I dissent

How can we celebrate a country

where someone’s baby

has to carry one

where missing indigenous women

are never sought or found

where black mothers die threefold

because white mothers

are bleeding next door

where genitals are inspected

before pronouns are respected

and marriage equality

was a passing dream

If fireworks can scream

we can, too

6/30/22