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.