ELECTION
On plywood walling off a stalled construction
site someone had scrawled: WHAT’S IT ALL WORTH
WITHOUT AN OPEN FREE AND FAIR ELECTION?
Behind it, water seeping from the earth
sought its equilibrium in the pit,
rising, falling, following the weather.
We never saw the message fade. Did it
require an answer? Was it merely clever?
A steel and see-through condo tower stands
there now, I guess—I couldn’t say which one—
to fill the hole and make no such demands
on passersby. The question’s day is done.
It always made us smile but now I doubt
we knew just what it was we smiled about.
—from Poets Respond
__________
Matthew King: “This poem refers to a bit of graffiti I saw many years ago, but the question it posed ironically—obviously, the real question is what’s it all worth with an open free and fair election?—is, for now, as pertinent as ever. This is what your open free and fair elections get you. What do you make of that?” (web)
