We flush, wipe clean, repeat again.
Good worthy citizens, our voices boom with cheer.
Sweet righteousness,
Ensemble cast, assembled voices.
We order nicely yet succinct,
No extra words surge past our lips.
Incurious, you let drop wrong name.
But no apologies are necessary.
In an avalanche no single snowflake bears the burden
Of responsibility.
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Marina Sofia – A really thoughtful poem about the political process and voting! You capture so much in just a few lines…
Interpretation is in the readers’ mind. Actually, I was thinking of all crowd behaviour and herd instinct, not just voting. But I guess you in the US are currently that way inclined…
I love those last two lines!
Would you be terribly disappointed in me if I confessed that it’s a Swiss proverb that I’ve adapted for the sake of this poem? Not original at all!
Reblogged this on Where do We go from Here? and commented:
Democracies…
Democracies of every kind: I was also thinking of all the voting on TV shows, of crowd behaviour, of cultural obtuseness (unthinking imperialism if you like), rather than purely political…
Those last two lines are so powerful. The photo is a perfect illustration too.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I can’t really take credit for the last two lines. A version of that is a Swiss proverb. Which inspired me to write the rest.
“In an avalanche no single snowflake bears the burden of responsibility”
This is really beautiful