Saturday, November 1, 2008

WAKE UP

For November it is November,
you were always so proud of that.
It's the first cold day
of a cold day's insistence,

the crisp tautness you've waited for.
There you are, wrapped:
you have good sense, yes,
you've been anxious for something like this.

-- James Tate


Thought of this poem today while looking at these early voting photos from Atlanta. Particularly the students marching from their college library to the polling place.

We voted by mail a few weeks ago.

Americans... what does it look like where you are this week?

3 comments:

lisa said...

it is freakishly warm here (70s).
the leaves have hardly begun to fall.
it was lovely for the trick-or-treaters though.

Chris Hosea said...

Cecily and I spent part of the afternoon yesterday calling Pennsylvania and Virginia voters. There is a "calm before the storm" feeling at the school where I work. How much we want to breathe more freely in this sad country.

onikaaru said...

Well, there was some sort of large, well-organized group running event here on Sunday. Most of the people ran, like, well over twenty miles. What do you make of that?

In terms of the election, I have two observations/comments (obserments):

a) Many people here are NOT ruling out the possibility of McCain being announced as the winner. Now, no one believes he will have won the election... there's a steady chorus conspiracy-theoricists, and just plain folks who read the news, who fear the election being manipulated (read: stolen). following with these statements is a general assumption that mass violence is, and should be, the result. Vehement is the vibe in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

b) in terms of what I've seen (of interest)... on the crowded Q train home late the other night, someone got on with an Obama poster/sign and proceeded to give a soliloquy (no, that's WAY too kind) on why we need to elect him. He then asked for any dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, or even pennies for an election contribution to help make change possible. Work it, my friend.

Now it is time to go to sleep as I expect the neighborhood polling station to be overcrowded and underorganized in the morning.

p.s. worst case scenario... can I crash on your couch for a bit?