GUIDE TO VOTING AMENDMENT
Voter Registration Deadline for 2024 General Election: Monday, October 7
Early Voting Period: October 26 – November 2
Deadline to Request Mail-In Ballot: October 24
General Election: Tuesday, November 5
Go to https://registertovoteflorida.gov/ to register or confirm your registration.
SOIL
The sun seeks its heart
Tickling the leaves
Touching the air, simultaneously grasping for endings and beginnings,
Waves of wind mesmerize the eyes,
Swaying this way and that, Seeking foundation,
The trees stretch and wiggle their footing, letting their roots creepall the way down, deep down, down into the place of darkness, into the abyss, the place with no sound or color, simply deafening silence,
Pulsating, giving rhythm to the world, eventually blooming into nothingness.
“ AS A WOMAN, I WANT TO RECLAIM MY BODILY AUTONOMY FROM OUR FLORIDA GOVERNMENT AND WANT TO MAKE SURE WOMEN ARE PROTECTED
IN FUTURE. OUR BODY, OUR RIGHTS.
Nicole Charre is a Miami based French-American emerging female artist on a quest of changing our understanding of the everyday through abstract photography and poetry.
I BELIEVE WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND SAFEGUARD THIS FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOM.
@thecuriousmicah / @micahpoetry
‘Let This Be a Warning’ is a visual call to action, a stark reminder of the urgency surrounding amendment 4 in Florida. The image of the ocean ablaze, juxtaposed with the symbolism of citrus fruit/oranges, serves as a poignant metaphor for the consequences of denying reproductive rights in Florida.
Micah Marie Johnson, a multi-hyphenate professional in miami, is known for their diverse work in social media, events, writer’s workshops, nonprofit programming, poetry, and live performance. In their visual art, micah utilizes mixed media digital collage to emphasize poetics, personal storytelling, and introspection.
On the night that the 6-week abortion ban took effect, I dreamt of ghosts. Grayish blue and translucent, they walked among us with questioning looks on their faces. “We can’t go forward with these laws,” I said, “without thinking of the ghosts.” Their personhood came into question. Could a ghost really be afforded the same rights as a living, breathing person? The specters’ chests still rose and fell in steady beats, out of habit from being alive. The debate grew. Lawyers, politicians, civilians entered the room where I stood and made their arguments to each other. The ghosts milled about silently. I was quiet. Could it really be true that we were, yet again, debating the liberties of a hypothetical existence instead of speaking with the living? I sighed and looked a ghost in the face. It blinked at me a few times before heading back into the fray of the growing salon on the rights of the undead.
“ ABORTION IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT. EVERYONE, REGARDLESS OF GENDER, DESERVES TO HAVE CONTROL OVER THEIR REPRODUCTION. AMENDMENT
4 IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD MAKING THAT FACT A REALITY IN FLORIDA.
Kira Rosemarie is a poet, writer, and illustrator insterested in issues of gender and women’s empowerment.
GROSS REPUBLICANS ARE AFTER YOUR UTERUS
6 weeks versus approximately 24 weeks. Florida’s current abortion ban against Amendment 4 autonomy. Possibly not even knowing you’re pregnant without options on the one hand, and having the time to make an informed safe decision on the other.
Pro-life organizations out of touch with reality, forcing you to carry to term, robbing you of your humanity. The Religious Right rallies against abortions, as a distracting veneer of their racist notions. Too many testicles not caring about this issue, right up until ovaries message them with an “I’m late”, instead of an “I miss you.”
This isn’t a court room, staying silent won’t save you. Ovaries remember how you spoke up, about not being ready to be knocked up. Go vote, you contagious, charismatic coward. The state needs an abortion, there is an elephant in the womb. If carried to term, we may lay in a tomb.
“ AMENDMENT 4 IS IMPORTANT TO ME BECAUSE IT REPRESENTS HEALTHCARE ACCESS. A HEALTHY AND EDUCATED PEOPLE IS A HAPPY PEOPLE.
@mannysaints
Manny Saints is a poet, political activist, and a level 37 Warlock. Community and expression is at the core of their being.
FLOWERS AREN’T AS DELICATE AS THEY SEEM
Since the day of our conception we are taught about rejection rejection of our image refusal of our autonomy
We are nothing more but cogs for an economy
We are nothing more but mothers to a village
To be a woman is to be a battle —A war where surface scars permeate wounds deep below wounds dealt before
To be a woman is to learn that your rights are in a constant struggle
To learn that a government led by patriarchal ideology is always at wits to silence your fight
To understand that your unwanted pregnancy, has tainted your innocence —your internal infancy
It is inside a death lock grip so tight and there’s no possibility no ability, no feeble rebuttal tears of ire, fears and desires all mixed into a meek puddle
To be a woman is not only a predetermined gender
To be a woman is not only a predetermined gender
A woman is made through the soul, through her feeling through her sole
A woman is cisgender, trans and femme a woman comes in every shape every size every color
To be a woman is to be a delicate flower a goddess of fate where beauty is implied she is grace, harbinger of life’s wisdom, quite the scholar
To be a woman is to be the beginning, to be the end
The day you step into your power
Will be when a woman won’t cower; is when the man will question her sanity
Cause, how can a woman be so sure of herself?
How are we safe to think, she won’t cause a calamity? The day is coming
Where women won’t have to fight crawl themselves nail, tooth and skin for their divinely given right
Watch all of the misogynist bullshit surface again
Cause women, men and everything in between can fucking exist all at once
We are all human
We are all seen
The fight isn’t ending, it’s only begun.
@alfredopoleo.poetry
NOTE EDITOR’S
I breathed a sigh of relief when I read about Amendment 4. Not because it was perfect, or it would solve the issue of our government leaders continuously stripping away our rights; but because after so many steps back, we are finally getting a step forward.
Thank you to all of the artists and writers who contributed to this zine. Your creativity and passion gives us hope.
To Florida voters: This is a chance for progress. Don’t let it go.
– Kira Rosemarie
Edited By: Kira @busy_witch | Designed By: KT @thesearecollages
Our rights shouldn’t be up for debate every four years. It’s not just about “holding them accountable” or “pushing them to the left”– We need to stop looking at politicians like messiahs when they allow every presidential election to be more triggering, more life and death, and more close to outright facism than the last.
Whatever happens, we must take some of this energy and put it into joining community work. Get in where you fit in. We need to be protecting the most systemically vulnerable and sharing skills and resources. There’s no shortcut to building real community. It’s hard work, but it’s power.
