“RBG at 23rd St. Subway” © Mark Blickley

 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

what could we have said?
what could we have done?
what could we have asked of the universe?
if we had each offered a drop of blood, would that have helped?
if we had each offered a minute of our own lives, would that?
was there any bargaining we overlooked?
oh let there not have been!
and let there not have been an Otherwhere
that needed her more desperately
we do not want to know of any such Place
oh Lady of High Intellect and Resolve
thank you for blessing us as long as you did
we cannot claim to have deserved you
only, some of us, to have admired and praised you
and looked for your mirrors in your younger sisters
now that we need them
so desperately need them
remember!
watch for a hummingbird
with the head of an owl
and the spear of Athena
and then hope for wisdom
accidental or on purpose
among our leaders
oh bless!
oh praise!
oh glory!

 

Wyatt Underwood hosts three sequences of open mics in Los Angeles, has been wrting poems since 1969, and has participated in the Los Angeles poetry world since 2010. He sometimes remembers to stop and try to get published. The World Stage Press published his book, 2015.365, a collection of poems he wrote one a day, every day, in 2015.

Mark Blickley is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and PEN American Center. His latest book is Dream Streams, a text-based art collaboration with Amy Bassin.