November 9, 2016

The date in the title gives the subject of this poem away. Just after Donald Trump became president, the world changed for many of us, becoming a place where it was safe to openly hate people of color or non-normative sexual orientation. As a white woman married to a Black woman, my security in the world was suddenly diminished. This poem recognizes that.

November 9, 2016

Dogs tautly leashed, I peer out the door
Preparing to leave the warmth of home
For a day somehow colder
Than November felt before 

The world is different, and not as safe
For the impossible is now reality
Like a nightmare you wake from
Only to find a monster in your bed 

How does one walk in a world no longer friendly?
How does one judge the stranger on the road?
With hatred now in vogue will I discover
That some friend has been harboring dark thoughts?

I feel fears that I’ve not known before
In my protected state,
Behind the shield of my privilege
For now we must all face who we are

This morning I walk my dogs
Shoulders hunched against the wind
It is only November…
The coldest days of winter lie ahead