I VOTED

=By=
Gary Corseri

I voted today. …
I voted for peace and justice and sanity
In an insane world of violence and injustice.
I voted.

I voted for clear streams, rivers, and seas;
Bright stars in a cedar-scented night-sky;
Whale-songs heard in unpolluted oceans.
Not for the lesser of two evils,
But for the greatest good for the greatest number—
For nothing less, I voted.

I voted for climate-change victims;
And for those torn apart by war;
Against the Empire, and for the planet;
For the hungry and forgotten,
For the terrified and abused–
I voted.

Against the military-industrial-media complex
And for the dream of MLK–
I voted.

I voted for Iraqi mothers and Afghani;
For Pakistani mothers, and around the world—
Because each of them is my mother, also,
Weeping like Rachel for her lost children.

For Kathy Kelly and Rachel Corrie,
For Cindy Sheehan and Cynthia McKinney,
Jill Stein, Helen Caldicott and Chelsea Manning–
For standing against madness and lies,
Opportunism and exploitation—
For all of them, I voted.

For brothers in exile I voted;
For the martyred, the betrayed, the abandoned—
Ishmael, Aguinaldo, Sandino and Guevara;
Tashtunka Witco, Tecumseh, Snowden and Assange—
For this council of leaders, I voted.

Against slavery and wage-slavery;
Sexploitation, television and bad food;
The corruption of Art; mis-education;
The torture of humans and animals;
Our prison-work-complex and sham democracy;
Citizens United; the Electoral College;
And every meme kicked down the road
By glutinous politicians and their corporate masters—
Against all of this, I voted.

To pass from these Dark Ages
To a Renaissance of Reason,
To a New Age of Enlightenment–
I voted.

That truths may be reclaimed;
For the wisdom to discern;
That children may be honored
With cleanliness and virtue,
With books and venerable teachers;
That all may be protected
From the ravenous and greedy—
I voted.

To see the planet whole;
To know our place upon it;
To nurture and restore it;
To abide in moderation,
With compassionate humility;
That the arts might consecrate us—
I voted.

For the best that lies within us;
For the fortitude to harness;
For the healing grace that’s needed.
For the courage to continue–

Gary Corseri has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including, The Greanville Post, Cyrano’s Journal Online, Uncommon Thought Journal, The New York Times, Village Voice and Redbook Magazine. He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum, and he has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons. Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net.