Written November, 2012. First performed October 7th, 2013.
I lit a candle today
for all the women dying from back-alley
coat-hanger abortions
For all the women denied care
because they cannot be trusted
not with their own bodies, oh no
I lit a candle for Savita today
who died, because “Ireland is a Catholic country”
Ireland is the Morrigan’s country, motherfuckers
and She’s had it with your shenanigans
I lit a candle for all of us, of any gender, who fight
for our own reproductive freedom
it is not solely a woman’s battle
I lit a candle for the immigrant women who are not
trusted
to make the choice of abortion “for the right reasons”
I lit a candle today for the indigenous women
whose bodies
and land
have been colonized for centuries
I lit a candle today for my mom
survivor of two miscarriages, post-me
she stands next to me in the rain, and her sign says
“I promised my daughter a better world than this.”
I lit a candle for my friend, whose fate would have been Savita’s
had she not been able to visit a corporate hospital
she considers herself lucky that she’s still alive
I lit a candle
as a signal
to our Conservative MPs
that the reproductive war they are waging
is not going unnoticed, and will not go unfought
Rona Ambrose, will you fucking resign already
I lit a candle because every day
I have to educate people I know
on what the fuck “pro choice” actually means;
daily derails from the topic at hand
I lit a candle to light our way
to reproductive justice
to give us hope in the dark
to fuel us when we burn out
I lit a candle
and when I looked up, the whole world was ablaze.