A Country Without Firsts
Antoinette Winstead
January 14, 2021
“But while I may be the first woman in
this office, I won’t be the last.”
-- Kamala Harris
I long to live in a country without firsts
where females and people of color
in positions of power
symbolize a norm
not disruption and chaos
circus oddities
marveled and goggled
held up as models
of the achieved impossible
judged as outliers
success garnered questionable
accomplishments under constant suspicion
of whether earned through hard work
or given through the largess
of well-meaning liberals
perceived behind the achievements
of all implausible barrier breakers.
I long to live in a country without firsts
conceived in the dream
over half-a-century ago
by a man who imagined a world
unbiased by gender or color
where no obstacles of injustice
exist for those who envision
positions of power and one day
taking the oath of office
unburdened by the label of first before it.
It is this country I long to live in
heartened by successes that shatter
the facades of fortresses
long-believed impenetrable
demolished by the intrepid
who brave the brand
no female or person of color envies
for to be the first is to suffer
as those to follow will never.
Antoinette F. Winstead, a poet, playwright, director, actor, and professor teaching film and theater courses at Our Lady of the Lake University, where she also serves as the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Program Head for the Mass Communication and Drama programs.
