CULTURE

Cleo Wade: To America, with Love

“I know that a lot of people in The United States are feeling heavy in this moment,” explains the New York-based poet. “We should take a moment to feel what we feel.” Here, she offers some relief, in the form of a poem inspired by the 2016 election.

by Cleo Wade

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Editor’s note: On Sunday, Cleo Wade wrote a piece for W about how she gradually became politically active. “I grew up in Louisiana with a white mother and black father and, truthfully, I spent most of my teenage years feeling totally confused about anything political: race, reproductive rights, gay rights, gender equality, foreign policy, guns, etc.,” she explained in the essay, which you can read in full here. “I had no appetite for politics, and also didn’t think I mattered much… It was only as I got older and started working on myself spiritually that I began to really understand not only that my voice mattered but that I needed to make sure I was using it as an act of love and service.” Wade’s awakening brought her this election season door-to-door in states like Nevada, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina as an ambassador of Emily’s List, an organization that raises awareness for women in politics. Following the election, we asked Wade how she felt and this was her response.

An Open Letter to My Dearest America

Dear America,

You are The Beautiful

Not The Perfect

Not The Always Right

You are The Beautiful

Because

You are The People

We are not one

Because of

A single being

We are One

Because

We are in this Together

We are One

Because

We are who we are

We love who we love

And

Our neighbors are our neighbors

No matter

Their color, their body parts, or their God

We are One

Because

We organize

And we are One

Because we

Recognize

That the soil from which we come from is

A long and continuous road to

Liberty and Justice

For all

America,

You are The Beautiful

Because

We work at you

We exercise you

And

We evolve you

America,

You are The Beautiful

Not because you are always pretty

But because

Generation after generation

We recommit to

changing the spaces in you

where we find ugliness

America,

You are The Beautiful

Because

We watch over each other

We defend each other

We respect each other

And when

We are faced with the darkness of despair

We shine a light of action in our communities

My Dearest America,

You are The Beautiful

Because

When we do this

We do this with love

We always have

And

We always will

Sadness and Disappointment: Reactions at Hillary Clinton’s Election Night Party as Donald Trump Declared Victory

Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
Photo by Zak Krevitt.
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