Sunday, October 26, 2008

BY ONE VOTE

by Robin E. Sampson


Maybe it was mine.
Another referendum
up before the voters,
yea or nay, they want
more money. So do I.
Especially now.
If only it was so easy.
Well, sorry, I screwed up,
could I please have
six million more
to make up
the difference?

The last one passed
so easily. We needed
more room in the high school,
no question about that.
But this time, it lost
by twenty-six votes,
one over
the legal recount cut-off.
Don’t tell me
my vote doesn’t count.
This time
I voted NO.

Robin E. Sampson’s poetry has appeared online in Bent Pin Quarterly, New Verse News, Wicked Alice as well as various print locations. She also has an essay included in the book Poem, Revised: 54 Poems, Revisions, Discussions (Marion Street Press, 2008). She is one of the hosts of the Bethel, CT Wednesday Night Poetry Series, and a member of the performance troupe Shijin. She lives in Sandy Hook, CT.
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