It’s just another day in a state-sponsored democracy,

the elections being held in front of a firing squad,
the soldiers assuring you

their rifles’ chambers are mostly empty.
You’ve got several candidates to choose from, but only one

is the right one: The government’s pick is rumored
to be capable of anything,

though he looks like the definition of dull.
Back home, your family’s tied up in the living room,

yet you’ve been asked to simply vote your conscience.
The other candidates

air low-budget commercials
on cable-access TV in the wee morning hours: This is to prove

the electoral process is fair. Of course, it is.
Still, these other candidates

have been missing for weeks,
plucked off the campaign trail like rotten fruit

by masked assailants carrying machetes & smart-phones.
The government’s official party

outlaws the expression “dissent”
& imprisons those associated with it. Right before voting,

you hesitate, imagining your act of defiance
might alter the status quo

& send shockwaves through
your nation’s habit of inaction. In your living room,

a time-bomb will detonate if you fill in the name
of any other candidate.

Your decision’s clear,
made years before you ever realized you could vote.

— Jonathan Greenhause