Their statue of Justice was a blindfolded wet dream
a shaved face atop a marble gown
holding Libran scales and phallic sword
he was not Portia (a woman in man's robes)
he was not a lady
he was not a girl
Real Justice is a grown woman, an adult, a human being, but
She was unable to see
unable to move
unable to speak
She was invisible in one nation indivisible
half the population
two percent of the senate
zero percent of presidents, past and present
statistically insignificant when counting
any body of power
anywhere, anytime
She was immune to viral apathy
grew to be a voting majority
And because this was a democracy or a representative republic or
whatever title politics could buy—
eventually the fat cat sold her back the tongue he had taken
The old boys said, "We didn't really hear that."
The fourth estate girls said, "Did you hear that?"
And Real Justice said, "Hear us!"
It was a genuine tears-in-my-eyes goddamned miracle
somebody heard her
somebody saw her
Real Justice was unbound
She recognized the truth seen in every crevice
every co-ed workplace
a truth so close
so self-evident—
that all Men are created equal
5000 years after Eve was shamed by a taste of fruit
100 years after corseted suffragettes cast their ballot
35 years after Mom was dismissed for revealing my conception
5 years after I tired of unseen-ceiling migraines from handicapped he-rules hardball
3 years after Mr. Sensitive-new-age-feminist publicly rated collegial breasts and thighs
6 months after an endemic epidemic of misogyny finally got to the Stanford neurosurgeon
Today, women's voices were heard
and men and women stood a little closer to listen
but had never stood so polar distant
and men and women were a little more in love
but with different ideals spoken in different languages
and men and women were a little more loyal
but not to each other
and men and women were a little more even
but not with each other
Today, Real Justice was every woman
Tomorrow, she will have asked for it or be emotionally unbalanced,
lovesick, lovelorn, obsessive, or discreditably delusional, but
Today, Real Justice stopped time, postponed a vote, cut across partisan politics
Today, Real Justice was not a victim
not a Democrat
Republican
Socialist
Fascist
Federalist
Free Mason
Moderate
Conservative
Communist
Liberal
Libertarian
Laborite
Tory
Whig
Tonight, she will go back to dreaming
she will dream of a new world order
that sends spies to save bargain brides
that declaims resolutions censuring rapists
that takes arms to secure misogyny-free zones
that holds world-wide court to punish gender genocide
that demands sanctions against nations condoning sexual apartheid
that dispatches peace-keeping troops to guarantee wives can drive and vote
Tomorrow, she will wake with these
and other quaint quixotic dry dreams of gynecocracy