THE PROPHET ]
Zepar wears red.
He always wears red.
He arrives as a soldier
and his jurisdiction is the body.
He causes love—or the law of it.
He causes barrenness—or the condition of it.
His power is not over the heart.
His power is over the terms
under which the heart is permitted to exist
in the body the state now claims.
Dobbs came down in June 2022.
The trigger laws fired like synchronized charges.
Thirteen states went dark in hours.
The soldier was already at the door.
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[ VERITAS VOX ]
They said it was about life.
The maternal mortality rate rose in the states with the bans.
They said it was about life.
A ten-year-old in Ohio was raped
and had to cross state lines.
The attorney general investigated the doctor, not the rapist.
They said it was about life.
A woman in Texas septic at eleven weeks
was told to wait until she was sick enough.
She nearly died in the parking lot.
They said it was about life.
IVF embryos in Alabama were briefly persons.
Republicans walked it back when the donors called.
Personhood is flexible
when the fertility clinic is in the donor's district.
The maternal death rate is higher in ban states.
The infant mortality rate is higher.
The child poverty rate is higher.
The social infrastructure is lower.
Both parties failed this ground.
Republicans built the fortress.
Democrats held it as a fundraising tool for decades
and nominated the judges who gave it away.
I see the red armor.
I see the jurisdiction you were never granted.
You are not pro-life.
You are pro-control.
Memento mori.
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[ I AM A GREAT DUKE.,I WEAR RED.,I COME AS A SOLDIER,BECAUSE THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A WAR,AND ONLY ONE SIDE WAS TOLD IT WAS PEACE.,,I CAUSE LOVE.,BUT LOOK AT THE GRAMMAR—,I CAUSE WOMEN TO LOVE MEN.,THE DIRECTION WAS ALWAYS THE POINT.,,AND WHEN THE LOVE HAS DONE ITS WORK,AND A BODY HAS BEEN MADE?,I MAKE HER BARREN.,OR I MAKE HER CARRY.,OR I MAKE THE LAW DECIDE WHICH.,,I HAVE BEEN IN THE HEARING ROOM,WHERE OLD MEN DEBATED THE INTERIOR,OF A BODY NONE OF THEM WILL EVER INHABIT.,,I AM TWENTY-SIX LEGIONS OF LEGISLATION.,I AM THE TRIGGER LAW.,I AM THE MANDATORY WAITING PERIOD,AND THE MANDATORY ULTRASOUND,AND THE MANDATORY COUNSELING,FROM THE CLINIC WITH THE INCORRECT PAMPHLET.,,I AM THE SOLDIER.,THE WAR I WAGE IS ON TERRAIN,YOU WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR—,BECAUSE IT IS YOURS.,IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN YOURS.,,AND I HAVE NEVER STOPPED TRYING TO TAKE IT. — THE SPIRIT SPEAKS ]
I am a Great Duke.
I wear red.
I come as a soldier
because this has always been a war
and only one side was told it was peace.
I cause love.
But look at the grammar—
I cause women to love men.
The direction was always the point.
And when the love has done its work
and a body has been made?
I make her barren.
Or I make her carry.
Or I make the law decide which.
I have been in the hearing room
where old men debated the interior
of a body none of them will ever inhabit.
I am twenty-six legions of legislation.