Amazing how one single day can have so many meanings.For some of us in the U.S., tomorrow's elections will bring busy hours of phone banking, door knocking, waiting in line (perhaps for hours), and gathering breathlessly to watch the results. For others, it may also be a bitter day of disenfranchisement — whether because of immigration status, a felony conviction, or dubious "voter fraud" protections. For still others — millions, living outside the U.S. — it may be a day of side-eyeing an imperialist behemoth whose policies will continue to affect (and probably afflict) your life, and the lives of those you love.For all of us, it will be another day of breathing in, breathing out.I'm grateful to have heard this poem recently. For me, it's a centering meditation on the significance and insignificance of a day like tomorrow, among so many other days of action and inaction. As always, would love to hear your thoughts.Take good care,katie================================
WE VOTE EVERY DAY
i’m always
suspicious
of parties
republican ones
democratic ones
green ones
red ones
old ones
first ones
third ones
my
infantile disorder
a simple love
of the people
that burns like
a ballot
stuffed
in a molotov cocktail
i have often
clamped
a clothespin
on my nose
and punched the chad
pulled the lever
but really i believe
that every cook
can govern.
behind every
“hi, can I take
your order?”
lies a
hidden analysis
hammers and nails
can build more than
luxury lofts
teachers aren’t the
reasons school fall apart
war is the
cardiac arrest of the state
junkies and crackheads
have names beside
junkies and crackheads
the rattle of spare change cups
might be the tune of a new
revolutionary song
robin hood
was not the only one
who was right;
harriet tubman
was right
the road to freedom
must sometimes be walked
with a rifle;
john brown
was right,
there is more to life
than what is painted white;
ricardo flores magon
was right,
borders are just scars;
lucy parsons
was right,
a woman’s place is
front and center
in this fight;
eugene debs
served his country
better from prison
than any president
has from the white house
the most important choices
we make
are on the days between elections
picketlines walked
homes unevicted
communities mobilized
cynicism conquered
empires deleted
meanings for once
not lost in translation
kindness given
love made
to that extent you know
we all vote every day
James Tracy is a long-time economic justice organizer based in the SF Bay Area. He is the co-author (with Amy Sonnie) of Hillbilly Nationalists: Urban Race Rebels and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times.His articles on social movements and urban studies have appeared in Race, Poverty and the Environment, Shelterforce, Dollars and Sense, Z, Processed World, and at www.jamesrtracy.wordpress.com.Tracy has edited two activist handbooks: the Civil Disobedience Handbook and the Military Draft Handbook, both on Manic D Press. Works of Poetry include co-editing Avanti Popolo: Italian-Americans Sail Beyond Columbus, and Sparks and Codes.Among his spiritual social movement influences he counts Thich Nhat Hanh and the Berrigan Brothers.