Missing Paula Rego

“The arc of the moral universe is long
but it bends towards justice.”
The reverend doctor on the mountaintop
saw way beyond our present setbacks here -
a future that was comforting, secure.
Turns out that was another sixties dream.

Abortion seemed secure, a natural right
but celebration on the stage
is not the final scene, not bound to last.
Out in the shadows of the gods,
back in the wings, the dark conspirators
are plotting how they can rewrite this play.

For them to win, they will do anything.
A judge will swear allegiance to the law
then swivel on a dime when he’s confirmed.
To-do list says abortion first,
then contraception, same-sex marriage rights.
Reversing Roe v. Wade is just the start.

We miss her wicked smile, her vibrant art.
A brilliant student, married at 21,
a baby on the way – but all of that
enabled by abortions earlier on.
She pictured stories that real women lived,
of how it felt to go there, have that done.

In Portugal, in 1998,
that protest was a howl against the wind;
the referendum kept abortion banned.
2007, no-one knew
if things had changed enough.
Same paintings, different result.

If only we had Paula with us now…

You don’t need me. Maybe you need my work.
Much braver in my art than in my life.
You have to fight this, the men and women both;
no-one gets pregnant on their own.
First time, it may not work. So, try again.

Won the TF postcode prize, in the Ironbridge Poetry Competition, September 2022