November 1: Midterm

Like Brooks’s Crazy Woman I will look

At this eleventh month with certain glee,

Although the song I sing won’t be mistook

For dissidence, just yearning to be free

From regular bombardment by the phone,

TV, mail, radio, and door to door,

All seeking to condemn or to condone

Opinions they would normally ignore.

But when my ballot’s cast, the calls will cease,

The lobbying machine will disappear,

Or hibernate and gradually increase

To burst forth in the next election year.

‘Gainst swaths of candidates and p...