You said the time has come to move beyond the bitter
pettiness and anger, to end the strategy that’s been
all about division, and instead make it about addition;
to build a coalition of sorts because that’s how I’ll win,
and that’s how I’ll finally meet the challenges I face.
Doing so, I’ll be choosing hope over fear, you said.
The time has come to tell them, you said. They think their
money and influence speak much louder than my voice;
they don’t, you said. They don’t control my life, you said.
The time has come to be truly honest about my choice.
I said I want someone I can learn from, someone
who’ll listen to me and who I can learn from, even when we
disagree, who won’t just tell me what I want to hear,
but what I need to know. That could be me, you said.
– from A MORE PERFECT UNION: A SERIAL POEM (forthcoming)
