Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Suffrage, the right to vote

Poster of the French Union for Women's Suffrage (1909)
 (Union française pour le suffrage des femmes)
"French women want to vote - against alcohol, slums and war"

“I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.” 

― Alexis de Tocqueville, Tocqueville: Democracy in America

“To view the opposition as dangerous is to misunderstand the basic concepts of democracy. To oppress the opposition is to assault the very foundation of democracy.” 
― Aung San Suu Kyi, Letters from Burma

“There is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard's vote.” 
― David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays

Midweek Motif ~ Suffrage, 

the right to vote

Do you have the right to vote?  

When did you last use that right?  

Have you ever been on a ballot? 

What would you like to see on a ballot to vote for?  

Your Challenge: Write a poem that exposes and/or challenges suffrage. 

My Mother Goes to Vote 
BY JUDITH HARRIS

We walked five blocks 

to the elementary school, 

my mother’s high heels 

crunching through playground gravel. 

We entered through a side door.

Down the long corridor, 

decorated with Halloween masks, 

health department safety posters— 

we followed the arrows 

to the third grade classroom.

My mother stepped alone 

into the booth, pulling the curtain behind her. 

I could see only the backs of her 

calves in crinkled nylons.

A partial vanishing, then reappearing 

pocketbook crooked on her elbow, 

our mayor’s button pinned to her lapel. 

. . . . 

(Read the rest HERE.)

Why I Voted the Socialist Ticket 
BY VACHEL LINDSAY

I am unjust, but I can strive for justice. 

My life’s unkind, but I can vote for kindness. 

I, the unloving, say life should be lovely. 

I, that am blind, cry out against my blindness. 

Man is a curious brute—he pets his fancies— 

Fighting mankind, to win sweet luxury. 

So he will be, though law be clear as crystal, 

Tho’ all men plan to live in harmony. 

Come, let us vote against our human nature, 

Crying to God in all the polling places 

To heal our everlasting sinfulness 

And make us sages with transfigured faces. 

The Right To Vote 

by NHUAN LeXUAN    

I hold my ballot in my shaking hand

And say to myself: this is cause and effect.

The opportunity is so grand

I have spent all my life to expect.

You have lived in a free country, 

Here you and your ancestors were born; 

Your civil rights are numerous and sundry; 

Please do feel pity for the forlorn.

I had exercised my right to vote

In my native land’s first ever election: 

Illiterates did not know what cadres wrote; 

Bad factions led them to wrong direction.

Wanting self-rule, people grew wiser; 

The patriots just built a young nation.

But the invaders, however, were slyer: 

Elections were only to shield usurpation.

. . . . 

(Read the rest HERE.)

Please share your new poem with Mr. Linky below and visit others 

in the spirit of the community.

(Next week Sumana's Motif will be ~ Acceptance)

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Distractions, or Stops Along the Way

Not all those who wander are lost.
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

You will never reach your destination if you stop

and throw stones at every dog that barks.
―Winston Churchill

Le vrai est trop simple, il faut y arriver toujours par le compliqué.
(The truth is too simple: one must always get there by a complicated route.)
― George Sand, Correspondence

Midweek Motif  ~  Distractions, or

Stops Along the Way

Today I invite poems about surprises in the best-laid plans--or detours you wish you had planned or prevented.  Or the affect of days of rest and holiday on the main dish of life. Distraction?  Rest?  Or a Better Way?  

Tell it, Poets!

Madeira, Lombada Velha, by Hansueli Krapf, via Wikimedia Commons

Please:  

1.      Post your  Distractions/stops poem on your site, and then link it here.

2.      Share only original and new work written for this challenge. 

3.      Leave a comment here.

4.      Honor our community by visiting and commenting on others' poems.

(Next Midweek Motif ~ What makes a day holy?)

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