Independence Day

by Melanie Choukas-Bradley

 
And what shall we celebrate this day
The documents that failed to give us voice
 
And now come back to bite us
With another nip at our autonomy
 
All those years making and carrying potato salad and deviled eggs
Waiting for bright colors to boom and flash across the sky
 
Such good women and girls, packing and unpacking the picnic baskets
And finally getting the vote
 
This year, no thank you
I will take my troubled heart to a quiet field, where fireflies light the night


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Melanie Choukas-Bradley is an award-winning author of seven nature books, including City of Trees, A Year in Rock Creek Park, Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island and The Joy of Forest Bathing. She began writing poetry during the pandemic. Writing in a Woman’s Voice has featured several of her poems during 2022, including “How to Silence a Woman,” which won the February Moon Prize.