Campaign Season

Good morning to you

smiling, waving, sir.

Affront your sign, bold letters POP!

Bright colors catch my eye -

fancy fonts.

Your smiling face, in vinyl, larger than life,

matches you there, road-side pitched.

Entertaining

each morning commute:

Bumper-to-bumper

and honk! Honk! And a contraflow

that doesn’t go quite fast enough

to evade the overburdened sewage’s

smell-spill into nose and mouth holes.

Ocean-front,

beautiful,

6 a.m. stomach-curdling sun rises.

-

Good morning to you

smiling, waving, hes and shes;

propagating faces with names

on signs ✨ shiny ✨ and LARGE

standing for BLUE

or RED

or green (but those were smallish and plain)

no purple signs (my favorite color!)

so red will have to do

or maybe blue.

-

How lucky?! My children and I:

Awaken each day to glory of battle

as we fend our breath

from assault by too-thick air;

unseen particles large enough to taste,

as we inch-brake-inch-brake in time

with the line of fellow vehicle operators

toward our prescribed regiments

of “sit still and stop talking”

and “do more, do better!”

-

We watch the signs

and we watch the faces smiling.

Ding! My lap alerting

another task for my day,

thankfully I can get a head start:

order groceries online

and respond to some emails

and text the Dr. back to cancel,

again, for my schedule

just doesn’t permit

and that lumpy pain

that keeps doubling in size,

well I can’t afford

to care about that anyway, and

2 kids need rides at 12:15 precise while the other …

-

KATHUNK!

-

What the f…?! Oh shit

it’s that same pot hole again.

Thankfully this car’s a clunker anyway.

What was I doing, oh yes, yes, thankfully!

I have this screen to tap

right back into my tasks:

Logged-in, transfer started, waiting…

-

….That car’s been sitting there a while now,

stripped down to rusted bones.

I wonder who took the tires,

where is their home?…

-

Done! Transferred. Next?

-

“shhhh, sorry girls, no talking right now I need to…..”

-

“Mommy! What’s them doing? Them with the sign?”

-

“Just wave back honey.

And smile.

Mommy’s running late. Right now

I need to…”

-

Put the coffee order in,

(yikes, don’t mess my boss’s up again!)

Check the schedule….ugh, it’s not posted

7:00 a.m., should be by now!

Don’t forget to get gas…do I have my card? Oh lucky me

here it is!

-

….why is there so much trash along the road?…..

-

Finally!

Let’s see, today I have back-to-back groups, again…thankfully

I can grab something fast on my way

to eat from my bag lukewarm

mid-day without leaving my job

I’m so fortunate to have

and really I am grateful but

I wonder WHO could (*cautious thoughts*)

change the ... smell … and …

-

Oh, hey! There’s a purple sign-

No, never mind, that’s a blanket on a line.

-

These are new!

Bright, expensive signs. And trucks;

I guess I’ll chose

blue

or maybe red

(is there another color?).

I wonder what they’ll do?

After we vote for their signs.

-

Good morning to you, smiling, waving…