Election
- Election
when the chosen helicopterover their destined porticosplanned communities neon greeneconomies their historiesstretched out like heavenly sailsa heron hunchesin the river I punchmy ballot worriedabout my father's healthinsurance and the leaky ceilingplip plip goes the lightin the scattered tupperwarestrees shake anxiouslyin the storm my mothercalls she needs me to carefor her which seems unfaircreak creak the bonesof the old doorframeif I sold all my possessionsI could purify the watersof whole countries I'm dyingto get back to the bookI'm reading wherethe poor are airlifted to a hidden planetwashed in glory you can seeit glisten on their foreheadssomething Jesus saidon a dismal morningblue haze rising fromthe furrows farout in the subsidiesmy candidate fires riflesstumps in diners plastic [End Page 232] bags flap from fence postslike waxy flags no onetouches their eggsmy candidate saysthe train is most convincingif we tie you to the tracksI think of the boy enthralledby the parade my own kidssafe at school theytext me smiling sunsthey know I'm not all badI'm here to celebrate the miracleof getting out of bedhalfway between this placeand an enormous cloudwhere we're all vaporwe never suffereveryone crownedwith the same white hairmy candidate screamsin the trees a torn silhouettestrung from powerlines he folds my voteinto a perfect craneshe flies ungainlythrough the atmospheremy body slides so easilybetween the railswhat have you done to preparefor your own deathhe says your one true callingthe sun's white blisterthrobs in the skythree ravens on the trestlesound the alarm [End Page 233]
Mark Neely is the author of Beasts of the Hill and Dirty Bomb, both from Oberlin College Press. His awards include an NEA Poetry Fellowship, an Indiana Individual Artist Grant, and the FIELD Poetry Prize. He is a professor of English at Ball State University and a Senior Editor at River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative.
