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| 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.