November 4th Poems

Here are poems by Gail Thomas and Yenna Yi written the day after the election:

The Morning After

The river still sings.

Under the forest mat, a highway of roots inches forward,

spittlebug builds a bubble tower on a grass stem,

maple releases scarlet flames, saving amber for March,

shouting crows chase a hawk,

stars are born, stars die.

The river still sings.

Gail Thomas

After the Election

“America voted!” NPR announced
The day after the election
In the year of the rat.
The warrior sun, Apollo marshalled
The vast, contentious sky and set in glory
Passing his baton to successors
To continue the unfinished daily works,
The Orion paints the dome holding
His bow and arrow magnificently
Protecting the seven sisters from the bull
In the company of his rabbit.
I voted as part of the voice of the “America voted!”
However minute I am, one in millions ballots
In the opinion-dominated rainbow spectrum.
Opinions crowd the ether ripping
The seams—radio, cables, internet,
As the night sky is full of stars
And wandering planets,
Some burn out of time,
Some crash in their own gravitation.
Little we know about the works of constellations
Above, even less we know about the dark passions
Behind the man-created institutions
That sideline ordinary people with miniscule
Labels to diminish the human existence.
The sun rises today like yesterday
Bringing the morning ritual faithfully
For eons warming and touching the deep
Corners of our minds’ eyes,
And it’ll do it tomorrow,
For “Yesterday is today’s memory,
Tomorrow is today’s dream,”
Kahlil Gibran has said.

Yenna Yi