Being an American woman the day after Election Day 2018

To the winners
I see you
On national TV
no one knew your name
People said you were surely
going to lose
But you won
anyway

Kendra Horn

Elissa Slotkin

You won where you weren't supposed to win
and where you were
you won with lots of money
and with a little
with your truth intact
or with lies you told, you had to tell
burning in your heart

You won for what you believed in
and what you wanted to believe in
and what the polls believed in

You won to bring change
or to keep things the same

You won for the first time
or so many times you almost lost track

You were mostly Democrats
and some Republicans
But you all
were women

Ilhan Omar

Sharice Davids

To the losers
I see you too
Everyone knew your name
It was next to vulnerable
for many weeks

You beat the odds before
but not again
Not this time.
Not this place.

Claire McCaskill

Heidi Heitkamp

Everyone knew your name
It was next to historic
for many weeks
but almost doesn't count
like too many of the votes in your state's precincts

Stacey Abrams

You were Democrats
Polished and moderate
And ground-breaking and courageous.
And losers
last night.
And women, too.

They said in 2016
that maybe America
wasn't ready for a woman president
that maybe in America
women's voices didn't matter
that we were all the same
monoliths
like suburban or white or black or conservative or liberal or old or young

We are all those things
and we are individuals
and some days we are winners
and some days we are losers
and most of us who voted yesterday
voted Democrat

But ultimately women candidates
and women voters
are not a trophy for one party
or another
What we know
now
winners and losers
alike
is that we have a voice.
And our voices matter
in America

And we will write
our nation's future