For the Record    11/3/2020                                            

Below are morning musings - mine and fellow Tuesday morning writer friend, Terry Walker-- of this momentous, tenuous day.  

1. My morning of Tuesday, November 3, 2020 -    

    This day in American history will not be forgotten or faded as some former presidential elections lose the perceived drama of their times.  No, this is different. this is not a "so be it." This drama is tragic. I was distressed at Bush vs Gore. But there was Laura. She saw him through alcoholism. Maybe , I thought, she will steady him through his second stretch. This time there is no steadiness, no one, only enablers. This emperor has clothes. Red tie, blue suit, white shirt. A crown of tufted gold. 

So does the emperor's wife. Military khaki-green to make a speech in the White House Rose Garden, a garden devoid of color. Her designer's choice to create the image of strength. The night was hot, in the high 80's. She buttoned to the collar, wrist, belted tight at the waist. What is the message? The emperor's wife is trying to tell us something. Her words as bland as khaki. 

What will this day mean at 12:01AM on Wednesday, November 4, 2020? I am breathless while I rinse dishes for the dishwasher, one of the lucky ones to have a dishwasher and foods to dirty those dishes.

I write all this in subdued fury and fear as I prepare for the meeting of my Tuesday Writing Group - on ZOOM. What are the others writing about this morning, I wonder, as I make-up my clean bed after yesterday stripping and washing all the bedclothes for the two times a year of strip and scald. 

The mundane of dishes and bed linens, putting on some lipstick for the few hours I am home, alone, without a mask A mask - to me a sign of liberty and patriotism, to others of bondage and defiance. Later today, November 3, 2020, I will have my hair cut and colored. What will steady me for tomorrow? 

2. by Terry Walker of Tuesday, November 3 - fellow writer

Election Day November 3, 2020
 
    I have risen this morning with a prayer on my lips and hope in my heart that our nation will elect leaders who will assist us to resolve our most pressing problems. I worry, what kind of world are we leaving for our children, grandchildren, and future generations? It is hard work to seek resolution of deeply ingrained conflicts such as racism, gender equality, science, and disparity of wealth. The eyes of the world are on us. May we all rise to a new beginning tomorrow.

                                                                HER 

                                                    September 2020 by Norma S. Tucker

Have they no shame?

A paragon has left us.

Give the people 

the time to mourn

HER.

Couldn’t they wait till HER encased body 

took leave of the elegance of the Court 

where she served with rigor  

for the people? 

The first HER to lie in state.

Senators sworn to uphold 

rights and privileges, use their power, 

their arrogance, to intimidate 

to name HER replacement.

Posthaste.

 

Senators whose oratory once spoke of process

now agree only

to wiles and oneness

What’s it really about? I’ll tell you.

Abortion rights!

Two women senators disagree with the lot. 

Is it to follow recent precedent of the nominee

to the Court, the one never heard,  

their hard-won rights in danger by those 

of wiles and oneness? How tenuous is our lives!

I’d like to admire a woman judge, mother of seven 

in this contest. We women can do it all 

with access and resources

not with parochial views, decisions 

bent to church, not state.

Give us room. Not just the delivery room. 

Now!

Let us have the room

to mourn HER,

HER last wish.