precisely one year ago i went to school after election day and felt like driftwood in an uncertain sea.

it was a very quiet day. i remember touching things like i was new to the world and everyone whispering consolations to everyone else.

six months later i didn't mark the date but i probably thought something like when will this end and hey, we're one year closer.

we survived a year of this and they are still pointing fingers, tossing blames and slurs like baseballs. f them, we deserve all the wins we can get.

keep hoping, i tell my friends and the girl i was last year. keep hoping and once we've hit rock bottom, it can only go up from there.

They say that women don’t need men, and I believe that to be true. We don’t need men. But, by whatever powers may exist, does my young heart lie awake late at night and long to feel what it has never felt. My eyes wander to the moon and my soul out the window, in search of some companion that my selfish belief in fate says must be out there. Somewhere. I am searching.

…what is this?

Is it…

No.

It can’t be.

But…

It looks like…

Good news?

And a feeling, something almost forgotten.

Hope?

Shhhhhhh, no no no no no!

We mustn’t jinx it.

It’s so rare

That if we lose it

I’m afraid we won’t get it back.

Still, this

Strange and 

Unusual feeling?

It’s hope,

And maybe it’ll stick around.