51 Pronouns

51 pronouns…
and we’re all talking
about pronouns these days
—which is actually a good thing
but do we dare challenge
these 51 yet?

Has our country seriously
not glanced at these 51
since they were penned?
Do we know where they are located?
Have we had conversations
about these 51? If so—
Obviously, not enough!
Do we see that they exist or
recognize their damage
which still persists?

Have our hearts weighed in
on the heaviness these
51 pronouns hold?
Find them, count them,
hidden in plain sight
they are— bold
in their implications—
generational consequences!

And what about
”Savages”—the word?
It, too, still remains
in legal print,
hanging in another
hallowed document
with the ugly phrase
”three fifths” of a person…

Or what about
the absolute absence
of other pronouns—
We know the ones—
that stand in for those
deemed property, legally bound,
2nd class citizens, pretended equality
or married into another’s identity?
To this day, my address can read
Mr. and Mrs. Scott Cougill—
Just where did I go?

It’s oh so easy
to gloss over pronouns
their importance or presumed
insignificance —not conscious—ly
registering absence, presence, or
intention.

Some might say it was the economy,
or immigration, others will emphatically state
it was her policy on… —fill in the blank!

But I say… it was the pronoun.
Because, as women we aren’t even found
in The Constitution…
How could we even begin to think
a She would become President?

photo credit National Archives with amateur editing tools creating the 51

This poem was inspired by the book Unsettling Truths by Mark Charles (Click here for a link to my reflection on this book.) and his podcast “My Second Cup of Coffee”. Parts of this poem began to noodle in me after the results of Election Day 2024, while finalizing it on 1.6.25