Friday, June 24, 2022

A LOADED GUN

by Ann E. Wallace

after Emily Dickinson


by C.B.


Had my life but stood 
a loaded gun, I might have 
roamed these sovereign states
with ease and in the open.
 
But though this woman’s body
may live longer than its lover,
or its foe, it receives no such 
constitutional protections.
 
We grant inalienable safeguards 
to our guns, as to the men who
cock and press the sacred trigger
with force and as they please.
 
If I were indeed that loaded gun, 
my liberty to choose, to carry 
or to abort, would be a right 
that is secured in perpetuity.


Ann E. Wallace is a poet and essayist from Jersey City, New Jersey. Follow her on Twitter @annwlace409 or on Instagram @annwallace409.