I come by my radical feminism
\nhonestly
\nas scrupulously as can a
\nmiddle-aged guy like me<\/p>\n
I come from a long line of
\nstrong women
\nimmigrants
\noccupation resistors
\npogrom survivors
\nGreat Depression
\nscrappers and savers
\nwho made do
\nand much more<\/p>\n
blue-collar unionists
\norganizers
\nwomen who didn\u2019t back down
\noffice workers
\noutside-the-homers
\nwhen that supposedly
\nwas not \u2018the norm\u2019<\/p>\n
One, my mother\u2019s aunt
\na suffragette
\nclear sense, fifty years
\nremoved from the fight
\nto vote
\nhow the battle still raged<\/p>\n
honest in that her status
\nwife of a doctor
\nafforded her a bit more
\nleeway
\nthan many peers
\nshe fought, led the charge
\nwhen needed<\/p>\n
She always conveyed
\ninordinate sense
\nnot-boastful dignity, pride
\ngranted same to those
\nprobably
\nfar less deserving<\/p>\n
instilling in subsequent
\ngenerations
\nclear ideas about forging
\none\u2019s own path
\nwith the worth and dignity
\nof others
\nalways at the forefront<\/p>\n
As a teen I was enthralled by
\nher storytelling
\nthe resolve of others
\nsharing what she had fought for
\noccasionally punctuating a
\nkey point with a sharp \u2018thump\u2019
\nof her ever-present cane<\/p>\n
it was the 70s
\nWomen\u2019s Lib buzzwords
\nwere of less interest than real
\naction, in-the-streets
\nvisibility, protests
\nall still intrigued her
\nbra-burning bemused her
\nstreets full of people
\nmarching shoulder-to-shoulder
\nstill a turn-on<\/p>\n
always reminding her daughters
\nand my mother
\nplus shirttail-nephew me too
\nnot to let their guard down
\nkeep fighting
\nwherever, whenever<\/p>\n
I am nearly
\nfifty years removed from
\nthose days of being awed by
\naunt Maybelle
\nregaled by tales
\neach fascinating, each with
\na solid moral
\nlife lessons
\nearned not learned<\/p>\n
Schooled, I was
\nin every sense
\nfirsthand, no less
\nby a woman who had
\nseen much
\ndid something about it
\nwhenever she could
\nnudging me in
\nsimilar directions<\/p>\n
aunt Maybelle
\ninstilled in me a sense of
\nresponsibility
\ndidn\u2019t let me off the hook
\njust for being a boy
\nlong before
\nmale accountability
\nwas truly fashionable<\/p>\n
My kids
\ndaughter, two sons
\nnow grown
\nnever met aunt Maybelle
\nbut I see her in them<\/p>\n
involved activists, in their
\nown. unique ways
\napples, they are
\nfrom a distant branch of a tree
\nthat won\u2019t let them fall
\ntoo far away <\/p>\n
and, in fact
\nhelps them to soar<\/p>\n
\u2013 Mark L. Lucker
\n\u00a9 2020
\nhttp:\/\/lrd.to\/sxh9jntSbd<\/p><\/blockquote>\n#prompt1 #hour1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I come by my radical feminism honestly as scrupulously as can a middle-aged guy like me I come from a long line of strong women immigrants occupation resistors pogrom survivors Great Depression scrappers and savers who made do and much more blue-collar unionists organizers women…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13,1],"tags":[3487,3442],"class_list":["post-62319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-miscellaneous","category-uncategorized","tag-2020hr1","tag-2020poetrymarathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/694"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62319"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77893,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319\/revisions\/77893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}