An Election Day poem by my book marketing guru, Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the Frugal Book Promoter series. Also check out her human rights themed poetry collection Imperfect Echoes with cover art by Richard C. Jackson, known to readers of this blog as Conway. (He is still waiting for a hearing on his early release petition since 2008!)
We Will…
Today we will line up.
We will line up in the heat…
We will line up in the cold with scarves around our necks,
hot coffee steaming from paper take-out cups…
We will line up, leaning into Santa Ana Winds or hurricanes
named after Greek letters…
We will line up in fire storms and bitter ashes…
We will do what persevering voters did in ‘64
with a new voting bill as assurance we should be there.
Today we will line up
with that bill clawed away
because “there is no longer a need,”
our postal service disrespected,
our drop boxes suspect or gone.
We will line up today, tomorrow and tomorrow…
We will line up wearing our masks…
We will line up six feet apart
with space enough
to dance,
to sing
to vote.
I am so touched that you shared my poem with your subscribers and visitors, Jendi. I voted the day after I received my mail-in ballot. I suppose it helped Tuesday night anxiety, but it didn’t cure it! And thank you for mentioning Richard Conway Jackson’s artwork on the cover of my Imperfect Echoes. It was perfect for that book and was probably a help in its being honored by Writer’s Digest. My mail to him has been coming back lately.