With election season upon us, two poems of civic engagement

In thinking about the Presidential election of a lifetime that’s before us, I was reminded of two poems I wrote four years ago, one about waiting in line to vote early in the 2020 election https://www.elizabethjcoleman.com/blog/poem-a-river-sings, and one written during the violent insurrection of January 6, 2021. https://www.elizabethjcoleman.com/blog/the-egret-in-red-alder-review-issue-no-4-peace


As Jane Hirshfield wrote in the first line of the first poem in Resist
ance, Rebellion, Life (2017 @AAKnopf), “Let them not say: we did not see it./We saw.”

“WHAT MAKES A POEM POLITICAL? 

When the power of poetry meets social, political, or current events, political poetry is born. As Poets.org puts it, “Political poetry is poetry that is related to activism, protest, and social concern, or that is commenting on social, political, or current events.” However, a political poem isn’t necessarily a didactic one. Some of the most poignant examples of political poetry fall under the categories of memoir or personal testimony.” — read poetry .com