One Vote

            After reading a letter from his mother, Harry T. Burn cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution



My parents are from countries

where mangoes grow wild and bold

and eagles cry the sky in arcs and dips.

America loved this bird too and made

it clutch olives and arrows. Some think

if an eaglet falls, the mother will swoop

down to catch it. It won’t. The eagle must fly

on its own accord by first testing the air-slide

over each pinfeather. Even in a letter of wind,

a mother holds so much power. After the pipping

of the egg, after the branching—an eagle is on

its own. Must make the choice on its own

no matter what its been taught. Some forget

that pound for pound, eagle feathers are stronger

than an airplane wing. And even one letter, one

vote can make the difference for every bright thing.

Copyright © 2020 Aimee Nezhukumatathil. This poem was co-commissioned by the Academy of American Poets and the New York Philharmonic as part of the Project 19 initiative, and appeared in the Spring-Summer 2020 issue of American Poets