Day 31

Day 31. The last day of March. The last day of Women’s History Month. Tomorrow is a day for fools, but today is a day for women. So celebrate women. And next year, I will return, ready to sharpen my pen against a hostile world. Tonight I offer one more poem, a poem in celebration (sort of) of the one hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment. One hundred years on, the vote has gained us a lot…but don’t rest on your laurels. We must keep fighting. I salute you, all of you who have stuck with me so far.

And just for you, I plan to continue through the year. Each month, I plan to post about women who have done fabulous things…some good, some bad, some…weird. I will share short biographies of these women, because listing the five women each night has whetted my appetite for research on these, and many other, women.

And now, five more women, all suffragists:

• Charlotte Vandine Forten, abolitionist and suffragist

• Angelina Weld Grimke, journalist, poet, playwright, suffragist

• Carrie Langston, journalist and suffragist

• Adela Hunt Logan, former slave, educator, suffragist

• Sarah Redmond, physician, abolitionist, suffragist

I CAST A VOTE

 I cast a vote.
Not my first.
I cast a vote,
My first.
My first vote for a woman,
A woman running for President,
President of the United States.
Such a day.
Such a first.
I cast a vote.
I voted for
Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Susan B. Anthony.
Alice Paul.
Carrie Catt Chapman.
Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Sojourner Truth.
Ernestine Rose.
The name on the ballot
Didn’t match any of those.
The name on the ballot
Was a woman still living.
A woman who was strong,
Smart, educated,
And talented.
A woman who won more votes than her opponent.
A woman who…lost.
I cast a vote.
I voted for a woman.
I dedicate my vote
To my grandmother
Who wished for me
All the things she couldn’t have.
And I wept
To see the woman win…and lose.
I cast a vote.