on a small scale
no one steals a vote. one vote
means nothing in the final analysis
of those signing in
& closing the curtain;
it’s all cumulative
but
if you steal 1,000 votes
sealing mouths closed
with red tape, or even
10,000 or 100,000
that’s fraud
on a grand scale
& ironic
that a party
calling for fair elections
everywhere else
is willing to disenfranchise
people more likely than not
to disagree with their platform
& wrap it snug
in voter fraud legislation
but that’s okay
because they have already stolen
the names of the men
who felt most strongly about
taxation without representation
in the first place
with those bags of tea
hanging in front of their eyes
like phylacteries
obscuring vision
***for RGH, who challenged me to write a poem about disenfranchisement. Told you, it needs a real blog post, not a poem!
Susan Daniels Poetry 
This, dear Susan, IS real. Although I may have challenged without remembering who the challenge was being issued to. 😉
Though we are opposite voices on some issues…I admire and salute your being a voice for what you believe. And join you in recognizing the need for truth and consistency in bringing the right to share our voices equally regardless of affiliation.
Well done!
xo
R
Thanks, SFAM. pretty it’s not, and certainly not tightly metered, but did what I could 😉
your ‘what i could do’ is always ‘what others should hear’
Aw, shucks, thanks!
Pretty sad that buying votes and preventing votes seem to be the new GOP strategy.
yes, it is.
Ah but this is so much prettier than a blog post, and thus more meaningful. Remember remember the 5th of November…
Aw, thanks, Trent!
Have to read up on this voter fraud stuff. There is so much coverage of things below the border that it’s hard to keep it all straight. Up here, we’re all about to take a collective dive off a bridge because the hockey season looks like it’s toast.
Well said … please write a poem about Romney’s fundraiser video.
Yes, indeed!
oh, wow–will see what I can do!
I think this is a great topic for a poem and I find the tea bags and phylacteries image really provocative.
I spend a lot of time reading about political issues for my work (I know you know this) and the thing that always bakes my noodle is how to think about and deal with such blatant, stunning hypocrisy. And also, how to respond to people I know and care about who swallow it with a straight face because they’ve joined “the other team.”
What really sits with me most about your poem is what stealing one vote means. What does it mean to deny even one person their right to vote? Or better yet, what does it mean when you’ve decided, as evidently Mr. Romney has, that you don’t care about the votes/opinions of 47 percent of the voting public?
These are topics for a blogpost but they also do make for good poems.
Jeremy–thank you! I loved the idea of tea bags as phylacteries (think the recovering Baptist had to come out to play a little). The hypocrisy of pushing for fair voting around the world, except in one’s own country is laughable to the point of tears. your third point is chilling and frightening.
Well done. Agreed.
Thank you, Nelle. I only hope they do not have time to get that PA legislation passed.
Our minds must have crossed again.. http://gladiuspoeticus.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/landrechten-territorial-rights/
They so very much did!
loud and clear.
Thanks!
I think I could use a little subtlety in my political poetry, instead of charging in, club swinging 😉
No, it has to be paunchy to hit the right heads I felt very indignant reading it, Susan. Ghana is in similar soup.
It is disgusting, and I feel for your country, too! Normally here, the political games are played in secret, and not as disgustingly blatant as they have been.