My great friend. We meet once more. Tonight,
more homes are watching our homes plummet.
More cars drive, more credit cards play politics.
Some women in Ohio find themselves disaster. A man
in Indiana explains how he feels; families sit on
their hands while major cities drown. Tonight,
friends, you’re here. On November 4th, you’ll talk.
Autoworkers show up everyday and try to work;
families watch their people go off; families pay
for college; students go back to sleep for hours;
I think about my mom who died before I knew her,
I listen to a worker. I hear a working woman talk,
I think about my aunt, her mother and grandmother.
I think—I…I have a better life. This has been mine.
I don’t know what father thinks. Or whose story wins.
– from A MORE PERFECT UNION: A SERIAL POEM (forthcoming)
