Suffering Democracy

The poem with fiddle music that has been included by Mark Rauterkus on emails and CDs. Ken played in Pittsburgh.

by Ken Waldman[]

Instead of a gun, or knife,

or pill, or drink. Or punching

the wall, the dog, screaming

at kids. Or holding

too many pains too deep --

brutal parents, cruel lovers,

bad bosses, debts, illnesses,

dying friends, extinct creatures,

absent God, near-ruined planet.

First, grip a pen, and write.

Then, pick a place, and plant.

Then, be patient, and let grow.

Then, enter a small booth,

pull around the blue curtain,

kiss that ballot, and vote.