Less than twenty-four hours
left
before the mid-term elections
the weeks have tricked us
into days/the moment
descends and my fingers itch
for a poem
a great rage to inspire you
to rise you up
early or late tomorrow
to go vote
for Katrina
and the ill winds that flapped
incumbent at the throats of old women
who marched in Selma
for the children who will never know
the New Orleans into which they were born
for Alabama
and Georgia
for Tennessee
Missouri
New York City and how this town
has become a place
only the wealthy can enjoy
vote against these small boxes we pay
entire months wages for
every month
I have to cut something else
snip
snip
snip away at the doors Black teenagers can walk through
pile all the Puerto Ricans on top of each other
call them Mexicans
because you don’t know better
if your mother is Dominican
if your father is from Barbados
your older brother is still in Belize
grandfather is in Nigeria
if your maternal grandmother is Jamaican
if you have never seen the city where your people are from
white as a WASP and liberal
or independent
or you used to be republican
Go Vote
for all the rights they have taken away
under Bush
and the bevy of oiled gods they pray to everyday
get up tomorrow and go vote
because last time Ohio
bore the burden of scapegoat
if more of us had voted last time
Ohio would not have mattered so much
if we had won Florida
or New Mexico
Indiana
Nevada—liberals need to get the fuck up
off these futons
and altars of energy
and astrology and artistry
put down the pens
and the posturing and the pontificating
just get up
put your gloves
and your scarves
and your politically correct shoes
go vote
for South Dakota
and the right for a woman to choose
whether her reproductive life will be hers
for West Virginia and the broken teeth
of residents working without access to doctors
or livable wages
Go Vote
for the scores of us
eking a living from a shrinking margin
of managing on what is left of your salary
after your student loans
how many of us are pressed
urgent toward the dentist?
the gynecologist ?
without Health Insurance
what will become
of the babies we may need medical coverage for
one day
one day my pussy will belong to me
the state will have no tongue
in who licks
sucks
or prays to the soft folds of my inclination
broken record
broken
record this!
you close-minded-racist-evangelical-piece of shit!
we on the left of you
do not mind
if you have a little nookie now and then
please
go right a-head
fuck anyone who has the ability to consent
and if you feel you need to, please
go a-head and repent
before any savior
any spirit
buy little packets of powder
or crystals to make you forget
the impossibility
of the pseudo-puritanical path
you have chosen
hang from the proverbial chandelier
whip each other into a Pentecostal frenzy
we only ask
that you be honest about how good it feels
to live outside of those self-righteous
unholy truths you hold
self-evident
admit to yourself
that any journey toward any god
is private
that you have no right to prescribe
what is right
for me
or Jimmy Swaggart
with regard to religion
or love
or sex
my orgasms should not be fodder
for your Sunday morning sermon
five year old bodies
and minds
should have no part
in the discourse on how I have sex
or with whom I may make promises
or forever
or now
this public display of the Pharisees
is likely to leave you torn
and Haggard
and without legs to remain upright
in any church
look at Teddy
he can’t even go
get his customary “massage”
now that the tension is mad tight
against the back of his neck
his pulpit
has been reduced to shameful grins
in moving cars
other voices reading letters
they say he wrote
you’d think his crew
would be more ashamed of his failures
instead the efforts have doubled
the republicans are out
flying on only a right wing
these fallen angels
are knocking on the doors
of old folks and young folks
jumpstarting old lawn-mowers
picking up trash
pulling at the skirts of the flock
that cost the Democrats
the last two elections
if your life is better
because of the Republican war
if you believe we worse off
than under Clinton
if you believe Bush is ugly
or Harold Ford is honest
Tester
Corker
whatever reason holds you fast
to the process of choosing
state it
bellow it from your blog
your blue collar
bleat it animal
from the heartbreak of this intent
go find someone who needs help
with a lawnmower
or a lift getting there
carpool
or ride in groups
make sure your friends
your ex
your ex’s ex
your mother
who you have not spoken to in too long
your aunt or uncle who cares nothing
for politics
call them
email the fuckers
or the not fuckers in your life
get them out tomorrow
early or late
volunteer to walk with them
voice your view
if you want cleaner air
or cooler summers
better dental experiences
nicer headlines in the news
I invite you to list here
the reasons you intend to vote
in the next few hours
let us argue
about those reasons that might keep you
away from the right to say
how you live
or love
or fuck
or pray
let us hear them here
those reasons
that will make you show up
for change
to respond click here
or go to myspace.com/staceyannchin