On Wednesday
an unusually warm November day
this poet
was just one member of
the sweaty huddled masses
who in between
listening to down-ballot Democrats
and James Taylor
was waiting for hours
on the Hooker Fields' AstroTurf
yearning to see
President Obama
who would give a speech
encouraging us to vote
for Hillary Clinton.
Naturally while we were fully "with her"
for the future
we were with him now.
While he spoke
this poet had two thoughts
one that maybe
if everyone here
this multi-hued cross-section of America
consisting largely
of Trump's deplorables
(who unlike Hillary's
merely exist on the same planet as he)
and Baby Boomer ladies
wearing "Nasty Woman" hats
and pale college kids
saying "Preach!"
and singing to "Carolina in My Mind"
(despite not being born
till 30 years after the song's release)
were in agreement
about our future
then maybe
"the fate of the republic"
could be supported on our shoulders
and two
that maybe all that repudiation of the wrong
and embrace of the right
wouldn't be enough.
This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper
