IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAY IN A
STATE-SPONSORED DEMOCRACY

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
______________________________
A four-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, Jonathan Greenhause was the winner of the 2015 Editor’s Choice Poetry Award from Kind of a Hurricane Press, a finalist for this year’s Green Mountains Review Book Prize, a finalist for Soundings East’s 2016 Claire Keyes Award in Poetry, and a finalist for the 2016 Iowa Review Poetry Award. His poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Folio, Mantis, RHINO, Southword Journal, and Thin Air, among others.
May 2016
2016
POETRY OPEN
Second Place
$100 Award
2016
POETRY OPEN
Second Place
$100 Award
IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAY IN A STATE-SPONSORED DEMOCRACY
by Jonathan Greenhause

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.
______________________________
A four-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, Jonathan Greenhause was the winner of the 2015 Editor’s Choice Poetry Award from Kind of a Hurricane Press, a finalist for this year’s Green Mountains Review Book Prize, a finalist for Soundings East’s 2016 Claire Keyes Award in Poetry, and a finalist for the 2016 Iowa Review Poetry Award. His poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Folio, Mantis, RHINO, Southword Journal, and Thin Air, among others.
May 2016