Vote for Old Piece of Driftwood
For ayin26
I apologise for posting this in its entire-ity. The LJ cut feature isn't working on my work computer...
old piece of driftwood
(dedicated to 'poemboy')
I'm seated at my kitchen table,
absentee ballot in hand,
staring blankly at televised debates,
wondering again…why
I am left to invoke my symbolic gesture
(which is nothing more than taking part in the country's
greatest opinion poll),
over two ends of a spectrum
I cannot identify with?
Behind me,
the Army of Apathy
come together in lounge lizard formations,
and relax in couch potato stances
with remotes in hand
to surf past MSNBC's, CNN's and Fox's
election coverage; blow-by-blow descriptions
of who is ahead,
who's is dead in the water,
and which one had botox injections.
This guy is bleeding the economy dry
in the name of
Imperialistic Peace-mongering.
The other guy rides the seesaw
between Abortion,
and the right to eat Peanut-Butter Sandwiches
with or without the crusts attached.
How much more soothing
it would be to
get lost in The Home Shopping Network,
(that 20-piece drill set would be a great present
for my brother for Xmas), or
the Top Ten countdown on VH1,
(Brittany says 'it's her prerogative'
to ape Madonna, and I agree),
or even static snow
singing a white noise lullaby
to soothe my fears
of what is going to happen
to the world
if I choose
the wrong guy,
(again, knowing my vote
REALLY doesn't matter in the grand scheme
of things) and would I be
symbolically
held responsible
if the dismal state of things actually
got worse than it is now?
Apathy is starting to look REAL good.
Many people have fought,
and died for me
to have this gift;
the right to choose.
The decision
on who to vote for
is giving me a headache.
I turn up the volume.
The slings and arrows
of both candidates pierce my ears.
I ponder
the old piece of driftwood
on my coffee table, wondering
how much karmic debt
I would incur if I put down the moniker
'old piece of driftwood,'
in the write-in section
for a candidate.
I need more time, but
time is running out.
I skip over the write-in section,
place the ballot in the envelope,
my hand hovers over
an almost perforation--
and choose….
copyright 09/2004 m. lecrivain