Working the Polls

Posted on 2022-10-17 by Bartholomew Barker

Working the Polls

Let’s install a pole in the Capitol
so our Congressmen can do their tricks

like strippers in a dank club,
teasing and tantalizing their base.

The esteemed Senator from Exxon Mobil
slinks out of his suit and tie,

and promises, if you buy just one more dance,
that he’ll keep the trans out of our bathrooms,

and if you take him to the VIP room,
he’ll make the kids pray in school

then once and for all outlaw abortion,
if you donate just a little more cash.

But no matter how many drinks you buy,
no matter how late you wait by the stage door,

our duly elected representatives spend their nights
with the CEOs of a multinational corporations

and that’s when you realize who’s really getting screwed.

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About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, a collection of poets in the Triangle region of North Carolina where he has hosted a monthly feedback workshop for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he lives and writes poetry.
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8 Responses to Working the Polls

  2. pensivepoetblog's avatar pensivepoetblog says:
    2022-10-17 at 22:01

    I realized it way before that. But then I’m the one in the stilettos!

    Nicely done!

    M

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
    2022-10-18 at 06:02

    Oh my – you’ve done it again – hitting nails on heads. It’s the same here – you’ll be aware of that.
    All I can add is – NIL DESPERANDUM!
    And…this goes in my blog too.

    Liked by 1 person

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