Politics, peace

INAUGURATION SUITE


1.

SIGNS FROM 2000



after Mary Oliver



So this is fear.

The sticker on the back of an old truck

says "Pride In Prejudice."

Ten hate groups

with Christian names in Wisconsin.

History is brutal.

I remember the films of Kennedy's

last ride, the black and white stills

of Caroline and John-John

not knowing why.

So this is fear.

I get up to clear that screen

make myself breathe

as if for childbirth

the way I did when the ER staff

yanked my ankle into line.

In two three four

Out two three four.

Voices on the radio sing

of shepherds' gifts

and a fine blanket of snow

covers bare branches.



2.

AFTER 2004



There was no choice

no rest, only brief sails

moments with small children

hours with poetry or music

to remind me why it was still worthwhile

to fight the red state tide

with so little hope

it fit in a baby's bottle.



But out of the rotted wood came other workers

determined not to lose the whole ship

not to let ourselves be brushed down the scuppers

or loaded into the dinghies of politics.

.



So we resolved, re-tooled, re-framed until we were exhausted.

And out of that work came candidates

more likely to think first of the other than the self.

The margins would be folded into the center

on what was left of our hope.



3.

NOVEMBER 4, 2008



Night fell.

The darkness was thin,

Street lamps and dock lights

doubled the town's peaceful size

on the water,

calm,

as if it had just been poured into the bay

to buoy our enlarging hearts.



4.

AND NOW



After the new shock and awe,

the interviews, appointments,

speculations and pronouncements,

in anticipation of the pledge,

the hand on the book, the speech,

we wonder about the scope

of the rot and the remedies.

A black brother says

we should think

not how this man can save us

but how we can save him.

And it is true

his most repeated words were

I can't do this alone, without you,

meaning not just during the campaign,

but for the duration of government

of, by and for the people.



If we hoped to get off the hook of democracy

we will have to learn

to hope for other things

not more or best

but goods designed to last

hundreds of years.