Photo of the poet by Karen Guancione at New York City Hall, 16 January 2011.
The temperature is cold,
but the sun shines
and we find a legal spot
five blocks from Manhattan’s
City Hall Rally.
The air is filled with targeted anger,
and camaraderie with all ralliers..
A blitz of photography, reporters,
cell phone dispatches—e-mails,
tweets, blogs and posts.
Dogs wear sloganed coats,
kids wear signs,
union names emblazon red jackets
of college youths, and the old,
some with canes.
Placards and voices are raised
with pride—
Unions Make Us Strong
Cut Bonuses, Not Teachers
Stop Punishing Workers for Wall Street’s Crimes
Stop The Billionaires War On Working America
Stop Welfare For The Wealthy
Save The American Dream
Save The Middle Class
Save My Teachers
Save NPR and PBS
Axis of Evil—Koch Murdoch Walker
This Country Does Not Belong To The Koch Brothers
Governor Walker—We Are Laying You Off
When Will The Rich Make Sacrifices
Union Labor Built This Country
Corporations Are Not People
United We Bargain, Divided We Beg
We Love The Fab 14
Tired and hungry,
My husband and I get cookied, coffeed
and revel in the newly-found
middle class voices.
Bully In The Spotlight, Jane Herschlag’s 40 page docu-poetry chapbook is published by Pudding House Publications. Her poems are included in three anthologies and many university presses. She won eight prestigious writing awards from Hunter College and CCNY. She taught creative writing to children and adults at in Manhattan and Danbury. She curated the Open Mic reading series for the Writer’s Voice in NYC for seven years and in Danbury for one year. She has run a poetry peer group for ten years. See poetryjane.com to access poems and current photography shows.
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