Saturday, November 01, 2014

ELECTION RONDEL

by Esther Greenleaf Murer



Image source: San Diego Democrats for Equality


Primaries, conventions, elections—                  
spectacularly staged surrogates for old dreams
of candidates who dare to espouse bold schemes
for taking the country in fresh directions,
who dare to speak on great-souled themes,
dare to engage the voters' affections;
Primaries, conventions, elections—                  
spectacularly staged surrogates for old dreams.  
Makeup artists mediate complexions
with powders, liners, blushes and cold creams,
and behind the scrim the aura of gold gleams:
what matters is pleasing those powerful connections.
Primaries, conventions, elections—                  


Author’s note: repeating lines from Anselm Hollo, "The Dream of Instant Total Representation.”

Esther Greenleaf Murer, a relic of the 20th century, lives in Philadelphia. She published a poetry collection Unglobed Fruit in 2011. In a faraway time and place she was a pollworker and precinct committeeperson.