politics
2020 Countdown, day nine: the loneliness of being right all the time
With only nine days left in 2020, I’m here to celebrate the end of toxic politics in 2021! Just give me ten minutes to land my spacecraft on planet Earth and the festivities will begin. Alas, hate-filled political divides aren’t going anywhere. But before we enter into any poisonous conversations over the holidays, […]
MoreGold to silver, doors to fences
My eighth grade year was the Bicentennial year, and to celebrate our class put on a play. Our ever-enthusiastic music teacher Mrs. Enright put together a musical revue of U.S. history. The only part of the play I remember was singing the give-me-your-tired-your-poor portion of Emma Lazarus’ “New Colossus.” I can still sing it today, […]
MoreMiller Williams to the rescue
A Note to the Alien on Earth by Miller Williams Here, in the interest of time, some words to work with, assuming you’re pretending to be a man or woman and understand English. If this should find you, know that I’m glad to help any way I can. A letter beginning “Dear Friend” […]
MoreWalt Whitman goes to the polls
As a rule, Poem Elf works in secret, but today I made an exception. In broad daylight I handed the Walt Whitman election poem to campaigners outside my local precinct. I was nervous, but there was no need to be. I had expected more crowds and more last-minute campaigning, but outside the high […]
More3 cheers for the swordless confict
Expressing gratitude we risk platitudes and cliché, but I can’t help myself on this election day. Voting is a marvelous and wondrous event! Divisions and partisanship have filled our airwaves, mailboxes, answering machines and possibly our thoughts for months now and I’m wondering, couldn’t we all just hold hands for one minute and sing a […]
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