ode to election day

thank you Nana for making those hurtleberry sounds.

in my fake voice, i've thrown stones

at windows in my pursuit of revolution. 

Afterwards, I punched the air                    furiously

with exaggerated pride.

No one was hurt

but I felt good, smiled, kicking

my legs under the table. Then

that moment came when stones

weren't quite enough. But

I see what you mean Wallace Stevens

when you wished hudibrastic,

mock rhetoric was like the "it"

girl in gym class

who never showered for

fear of her braids fizzing or her

goth, acid washed denim dress

shrinking up above her thighs;

her tee shirt bra pink as doll dreams.

But in case you didn't notice

I pushed Grandma to the polls

this morning and it was hard as f**k

getting her over the speed bump

in the graveled parking lot. But

she cast her vote like a tiger

in the backseat of a station wagon,

spitting out the fur and bones

that history alone forbade

her to swallow.

Reviews

[Crowley]

This resonates with me something fierce. I am in love with your rhythm and pace. Real doesn’t begin to describe it. I want to buy tickets to your one woman show, you have a orators voice that rivals the best, I’m talking Obama, Churchill, Maya, Streep. All this and I have only read two of your pieces but am guessing you will inspire with the rest. Damn....don’t find this kind of voice often.

[h d e rushin]

thank you dearest for this wonderful review....Stay safe....Covid is real ....dana

[barleygirl]

Usually I pick up on your point, but this time not so much. Your poem is well written with popping details easily pictured & felt, but I'm not sure how some of this relates to the election -- aside from your graphic description of pushing granny over the speed bump (love your reality stated with ZING!) Some weeks later, it's hard to fathom much about this election, except waiting for a long drawn-out pissing contest to end so hopefully we can experience some bits of progress in this country once again! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[h d e rushin]

thanks margie... There were so many people at the Detroit Department of Elections on November 2 the day before election day. I found it all to be so revolutionary. People were registering, most for the first time, to vote in the upcoming election. 3 weeks after that day, the president pressed the local officials to throw out the votes of all Detroiter's due to, what he considered, fraud , or corruption, or mismanagement, or malfunction....or whatever.! The poetic point, though laconically, was the revolution of the entire events of this month. I pick on Wallace Stevens sometimes because he was so serious : my undecipherable, impreceptible obscurity perhaps.....thanks for stopping by Marg....dana

[barleygirl]

Thankful things turned out well in this election with more victories still possible . . .

[Beccy]

'Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words shall never hurt me.'

Hmm, 'tis a long throw from 1830 to 2020, and I suspect the author would consider the opposite to be true nowadays.

All praise the wisdom of those wiser heads than ours; as you say, the old people can teach us way more than they can tell us, not the least being, if you have a voice, use it.

Beccy.

[h d e rushin]

so true Beccy. Wisdom is not always the right to interfere . We just have to listen harder....then follow the sensitivity and the wisdom like a prayer....thank you my love for those kind remarks...dana

[Coyote Poetry]

I am so glad the election is over. We need solid ground. The roller coaster ride isn't over. I miss the old days when two opposite shook hands and no crying. I am hoping and praying for peaceful days and healing. Thank you my dear friend for sharing your words and thoughts.
Coyote

[Ted Kniffen]

Well Dana, I believe your grandma was one determined lady ... with a determined granddaughter to boot.
Although I am not American, my father was and I have many relatives over there. I am concerned with the going-ons at the moment. Is this the best there is to choose from? A geriatric socialist and a buffoon?
Surely there must be better choices.
I haven't seen this much dissension since the riots in the 60's. I would have thought we were making progress and following Dr. King's thinking that a man or woman should be judged by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin. Perhaps we were wrong and yet we must push ahead ... keep working ... until we are all colour blind.
Your poem was a lovely bit of writing.

Take care ... be safe

[h d e rushin]

thank you Ted Kniffen for those wonderful words...My dad use to speak fondly of the riots in 67 here in Detroit. Fondly because, coming from the south, it was the first he'd seen of civil unrest sparked by police insensitivity. And yet we humans, all of one blood, cannot duck down long enough so that the bars of cultural misunderstand can pass over us. Grandma speaks fondly of Dr. King, as most people of her generation does, almost as if he himself was a kind of Jesus; saving souls, healing the land and delivering people out of bondage. Her time is short here on earth.....but then again, all of ours are....thanks dana

[Ted Kniffen]

I worked for the Windsor Star during that time and had an afternoon paper run to the news stands in downtown Detroit up until the riot.
I especially liked standing in front of Grinnell's which had glassed recording booths next to the street. I would pause for a bit and listen to the music ... it was great fun.

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

I see some of that tiger in you too. I like the way you used the concept of time in this poem. I also found the story of this american to be an inspiration.

[h d e rushin]

thank you brother....the old people can teach us way more than they can tell us......dana

[John the Baptist]

The speaker seems to be engaging in gentle self mockery for feeble actions in behalf of causes. Or maybe not, if the "moment when stones weren't quite enough" reference means more than it seems to. Liked the use of the "it" girl as a symbol of mock rhetoric. I think I know to whom this refers. The last part of the poem, where the speaker takes the grandmother to vote is quite moving. Now that's really working for a cause.

[h d e rushin]

thanks John....this Writer's Cafe' place is still a learning place for me. And I can remember clearly looking out the window at November tree leaves falling in that Poetry graduate class on Wallace Stevens and wanting to jump out of that window. I think that self mockery can be therapeutic yet only by remedial methods. Thanks my friend for your kind comments....much appreciated....dana

[jacob erin-cilberto]

But you surely got her there...love the line "spitting out the fur and bones/that history alone forbade/her to swallow."
that is quite a statement...a revolution seems to be on the verge.
and I'm sorry, but that whole socialism chant is BS to me...
Just throwing everything but the kitchen sink to try to change the outcome...or just to show frustration at the pending outcome.
this poem is so excellent...we have a long way to go for things to get better, but hopefully this is a start.
thanks for this poem dana,
j.

[h d e rushin]

have we ever known frustration like this though jacob? It's a new feeling that tag's along with new emotions. Ask the old people and they will tell us what "frustration" was really like. Thanks for those kind words my friend....dana

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I am quite impressed with your governor, by the way.

[h d e rushin]

thanks jacob....she is quite a remarkable woman....She takes a lot of heat for being resolute , but she rarely if ever backs down....I love her.....dana

[Robert Trakofler]

Please give your grandma a hug from the bunny and a big thank you cause it may have been her hard earned vote that turned your state to blue! mine is still in a rather purplish state:( I don't want to leave the city limits right now for fear of random suburban reprisals! I haven't felt this sick after an election since I was informed that trump was the fourth horsemen of the apocalypse after 2016. If Pa does go red I am going to look into having my head frozen and put a note on it that reads please do not reanimate until the worship of mammon, racism & misogyny is defeated and critical thought is taught in all classrooms! Oh yeah and when they reverse 200 years of global pollution. Was wondering if you would mind keeping it in your freezer in the meantime? you would be welcome to take me out for parlor tricks on holidays provided you didn't let me prematurely thaw

[h d e rushin]

thereinafter we purify, detoxify, exfoliate, and then find purpose for this 'evolution' when encouragement, approval and sympathy comes roaring back and we have a master class on rational thought and science. Only then will Pa. Mi., Fla., the midwest, the southeast, everywhere be saved from ourselves. No one was suppose to survive Y2K, remember. Last Sunday, There were people outside the church on the corner praying for an end to homosexuality. Yet even though God is real, it didn't happen. We are extra we humans. Modified nouns and bitter. Theonomous, perhaps. But feeble.
Poetry is a liberal process. I mean the theoretical, speculative part of it; that part that hypothesizes on epiphany. (I think the muse is multi racial) We all have a chance to sit by a lake, pull up Black Eye Susan's by the root, place adventure next to circumstance (like Ken Simm) or drink the isomeric tea leaves of love (like Jacob or emmajoy). Or like you Bad and Theloneous Monk who never use the foot petal to soften the sound.As for your frozen head. I can't get that image out of my mind....thanks brother. dana

[Robert Trakofler]

I can think of no safer place to intrust my mind than Dana's freezer:/ Hmm didactical deities... humanities specialty I think you may be on to something:?

[Einstein Noodle]

an Ode! i can only imagine the Minstrel who might sing this ;)... you always send me to school with your poetry Dana .. thank you for that .. Wallace Stevens and hudibrastic .. i see your poem turns decidedly female and is powerful in sarcasm and social commentary .. i think is is a lot one can pull form these lines .. so many issues have been brought to the forefront .. battles in politicking that for us are new ..yet history says no ... voter fraud, packing the courts, reorganizing districts, the importance and very clear rolls of our branches of Federal Gov. and the Supreme Court ..the unprecidented extended times allowed for voting ... what i find the best in this cycle .. is the number who have voted ... i pray no fraud is found that makes a difference .. we have and always will have it but it is difficutl to pull of so much that it sways the results .. i love your "Gramma" .. oh how i love her in this .. she reminds me of one of my Aunts who at the age of 109 lived by herself with minimal help and fiercely promoted the discussion of politics and to stand up and be heard .. i see the difficulties some have getting to the polls as that wheelchair plows the speed bump .. the allegory is stunning my friend ... i voted early, in person as is my want ... once i vote .. that's it for me ... come what may i will support and pray for whoever leads this Nation ... we all want success .. strong voice ... i would expect nothing less from you dear friend. peace and joy Dana!
E.

[h d e rushin]

Nana, we found out recently, had no birth certificate . It was deemed early on (in the 30's) that share croppers didn't need no government document to declare their existence. She can count money but cannot read or write her name. So voting became , her act of laying down, like Martin Luther hammering his thesis on the door of the Castle Church 500 years ago last month. And just like Martin Luther's act of 'reformation", her voting defines the split from eminent control to freedom. "Freedom" being the thermostat that supplies the heat of Americanism. Thank you brother. i told myself the other day.....No more controversy. I lied.......dana

[Einstein Noodle]

ahahaha that's the spirit .. we have to get it out until its ... out ;) me Ma was born on the farm and did not have a birth certificate either .. it was not easy to get her one ... we had to search for something written about it and did in the small newspaper that still exists .. tho the town has shrunk from 300 to about 200 these days .. i don't know if she ever voted actually .. she appointed me with power of attorney as she lived with me her last 16 yrs or so. i love the story of Martin Luther ... he showed a lot of courage going against the Church .. every single point spot on and most repented of by the Church these days .. i would love if you lived next door Dana .. i was thinking about that yesterday .. you could wave and say hi as you went off to work .. stop in for coffee from time to time ... there are more than several others i would pack into my hood ;) luv ya!