Election Times Reaction Rhymes

A five-line poem by American poet Emily Dickinson caught my eyes as I was taking a break from reading and writing about local politics. Politics were on my mind and her poem inspired me. I lengthened my poem into sonnet form and appropriated some of her words and her use of capitalization. Dickinson’s complete poem and my others follow here:

There are Two Mays
(She used her first line as title)

There are two Mays
And then a Must
And after that a Shall.
How infinite the compromise
That indicates I will!
—Emily Dickinson (1830 -1886)

There are Two Women
There are two Women and then there are four Men
After that a Question: If Compromise what then
Vote by a Suggestion or by an Impression
One of the two women is my former Student
Of the men some I’ve talked to every Now and Then
My bias toward the Women hurts my being Prudent
All six candidates are elected now, four are Men
The two Women are running for top post! reasons to Boast
Emily Dickinson talks about Compromise
Voting day nears we can’t wait for Infinity
Let’s listen to their speeches, who’s most Sage, most Wise
Then pray to St. Jude* and the Holy Trinity
I’d like to digress from this nonpartisan Spin
Learn what you can, VOTE. May the best two people Win.

*St. Jude Thaddeus the apostle is the patron saint of Lost Causes. For transparency sake, Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider is also my former student. I respect his helping the people of Tinian.

Political Rallies Held by Poetic Candidates
(In Batbon’s Brane*, a parallel universe reached through neural fibers in my corpus callosum, a universe with parity par excellence)

Calling all preachers, teachers, mothers, and brothers
Cousins, aunties, uncles, kumpaires, kunados, and others
Calling younger and older sisters and their beloved misters
We welcome nonpartisan voters and voting resistors
Calling all grandpas, grandmas, and other man’amko
Please check your ballots carefully when voting you go
Todudu katpenteru, lancheru, yan bulala peskadot
Please make the Commonwealth better with your vote
Yan lokkue first-time voters we are glad that you did
Vote with your conscience there’s no need to keep it hid
Those Pro and Con impeachment we welcome both sides
It was so farcical we’re laughing to keep from crying insides
We humbly ask you to make your most honest vote
We will now humbly end our voting plea on that note.

*A “brane” is part of a cosmological theory that in a multiverse or mega-universe, many universes may reside right next to each other like slices of bread in a loaf of bread. The “brane” I found is less than the blink of my eye away and contains humor.

Joey ‘Pepe Batbon’ Connolly (Special to the Saipan Tribune)
Joey aka Pepe Batbon is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is a sonnet practitioner who enjoys stargazing.