The Week in Political Poetics

Trump channels Hitler. (Again.) Arkansas fails God. Kentucky turns to victim blaming. (Again.)

04.16.2025 – 04.25.2025

Weekly roundups will now be going out on Fridays, in honor of the Norse goddess Freya.

As you dive in, a quick note about what you’ll find in each section: An article somehow linked to the politics of womanhood, motherhood, or bodily autonomy, including a link to read the full article in its home publication. A reflection on why this article. A poem in response.

01. “Trump May Soon Offer a Motherhood Medal, an Idea Popularized in Nazi Germany” by Kiera Butler

Read it on Mother Jones.

A REFLECTION

You know what they say: If it looks like forced birth and it smells like fascism…

I can’t speak for all people with uteruses, but I can speak to my experience. I became a mother in summer 2024. After being released from the hospital, I had to return a day later for postpartum preeclampsia. When I was discharged, I was told I would be considered high-risk for any future pregnancies. I live in Kentucky, where abortion is illegal. (My psycho of a state rep even tried, unsuccessfully, to make it so abortion seekers are charged with murder.) I made the decision to not get pregnant again. I’ve been researching tubal ligation. I’ve been grieving.

Every time I read about forced birthers’ attempts to mandate delivery for pregnant people, the grief resurges. Because these attempts are cruel. They’re abusive. They’re about control. Because if they TRULY wanted people to have more children, and if they TRULY cared about children and birthing parents, they would be proposing policies that that make abortion easily accessible, that guarantee universal healthcare and childcare, that allocate research funding to preeclampsia and maternal mortality, among many others. That reflect science and compassion.

A RESPONSE

To the woman holding back tears 
in front of a big sister onesie
After Kim Addonizio

If you ever turned banshee 
on a delivery room table spooned
strawberry ice cream with claws 
that later marked the same stomach 
you gave life from (will no longer 
give life from) choked back tears 
each time your daughter outgrew 
a pajama packed each tiny outfit 
in a box you never took 
to a donation center prayed 
to any open ear the science 
will advance sang your daughter 
to sleep couldn’t form the words 
tubal ligation though you helped 
friends schedule theirs ran 
from a grocery store when told 
you make cute babies wished 
for the plural held your daughter’s 
hand and promised you’ll carry 
the ghost of the brother she’ll never 
know before you leave her 
motherless / listen I hear you 
your screams light candles.

02. “Bill requiring Ten Commandments display in Arkansas public buildings becomes law” by Daniel Breen

Read it on Little Rock Public Radio.

A REFLECTION

The goal of GOP (fascist) administrations is overwhelm. They purposely throw nightmarish bill and after nightmarish bill at us to tire us out so that, when the nightmarish bills they were most hellbent on becoming law, we’re too exhausted to speak out. And, trust me, I know that their strategy can sometimes feel like it works. (Whether or not we want to admit it, how many of us have actually been able to call our elected officials in response to every single shitty piece of legislation the GOP has proposed?) In large parts, starting GIRL NEWS was, for me, a holding to accountability of myself to stay informed, stay loud, and stay in the fight. And while I didn’t pay as much attention when Louisiana passed a similar law to Arkansas’ last year (thankfully, a federal judge blocked that law), I’m turning up my volume now in opposition of my home state, and the remaining 48, following in Arkansas’ footsteps.

A RESPONSE

God rewrites the 10 Commandments

One. You shall feed the children. 
All the children. The garden strawberries 
and the good flour. Whole milk 
in their morning oatmeal and, for lunch,
tomatoes the color of their flushed cheeks. 

Two. You shall house your neighbors. 
Hard times are a given. 
She judges not only for how you react 
to your own, but what you do 
when the fall is another’s. 

Three. You shall stay in your own bedroom. 
Her best friend is a gay man, 
and even if he wasn’t, She meant it 
when she decreed 
love is love. 

Four. You shall respect no. 
God’s whole closet is crop tops 
and mini skirts. 
She has no patience 
for narratives that assign survivors fault. 

Five. You shall pray to the abortion clinics. 
Free will 
is kind of her thing. 
It makes sense her churches 
are the epitome of choice. 

Six. You shall hold tight to the trees. 
Life is not the sole right 
of humans. It’s a cardinal sin 
to kill 
what allows you breath. 

Seven. You shall listen to the science. 
If you believe She has created 
all in the world, vaccinate 
your children. Listen to the doctors
instead of makeshift priests. 

Eight. You shall erase the borders. 
Blood is thicker than water. 
Cliche, 
but she gave us water to quench 
our thirst, not to build a moat. 

Nine. You shall define your own prayer.
She doesn’t want to speak
to messengers and third parties.
She prefers your off-key singing,
your orgasmic screams

Ten. You shall not use Her name in vain.
By which She means
you shall not utter Her name
as justification in rooms 
where Her creations are threatened.

03. “Home alone? School district points to teen’s parents in coach sexual abuse case” by Stephanie Kuzydym

Read it on Courier Journal.

A REFLECTION

I live in a county that neighbors Rowan, and though this article is not new, it’s been dominating my Facebook feed. Obviously, that also means it’s been dominating my headspace.

While #MeToo opened conversations, it didn’t change behaviors. (Just look at who was elected President.) As a girl mom, that terrifies me. And, even though my daughter isn’t even one yet, I spend an insane amount of time thinking about how I can protect her. Not just from predators and public opinion, but from her own opinion.

I developed early, and that led to unwanted attention. From male classmates, who all of a sudden wanted my attention, and from (usually female) teachers, who wanted to police me. Every skirt was too short. Every shirt, too low-cut. Because of this, I think I spent more time in high school plotting routes to avoid enemy teachers than studying. (On what I know believe to be a linked note, ninth grade was the first time I ever failed a test.)

I’m not optimistic (naive?) enough to believe attitudes, and resulting behaviors, will change by the time my daughter hits puberty. But I am dedicated to arming her for that time. And that starts with open conversation.

A RESPONSE

In middle school, I had cantaloupes 

That’s what the boys said. 
I accidentally flashed a boy, 
pulling my shirt up. 
That’s not where my eyes are. 

Two years later. My algebra teacher. 
Not the flashing but the eyes. 
She told me: 
You shouldn’t wear that. 
It could distract     male teachers. 

When you’re 14, 
you don’t understand 
that’s not your fault. 

You blush. 
You keep your hands at your chest 
the rest of the day. 

Years later, I heard 
one of my teachers was arrested. 
For grooming one of his students. 
He started targeting her at 14. 
She reported him at 19. 

I wonder, 
when my my algebra teacher heard, 
what did she say?

How are you fighting overwhelm to build a better world? Let me know in the comments.