heat flow

damn, even voting a day early and all these people ahead of me…

the line to vote stretches around 2 sides of the block

after a long day at work i’m standing in line outside a recreation center

outside on a warm sunny afternoon at longfellow park in minneapolis

standing in line to vote in the low slanting november sun

and then i start looking around, start breathing, start noticing

it could be windy, could be cold, be raining, snowing

there could be no voting

and the sun shining through my eyelids stops the poor me shit

cuz it quickly occurs to me there’s more to this

there’s more to see

like all the lives ahead of me

standing

and all the lives behind me

stepping

all my fellow americans ahead of me

walking

and all my fellow americans behind me

rolling

all the free thoughts ahead of me

thinking

and all the free thoughts behind me

flowing

all the free to do and make and say anything ahead of me

learning

and all the free to do and make and say anything behind me

building

all the free to meet with anyone ahead of me

talking

and all the free to discuss anything with them behind me

knowing

all the free to love whoever i love ahead of me

healing

and all the free to marry whoever i love behind me

breathing

all the free to choose whoever i want ahead of me

being

and all the free to choose whatever i want behind me

voting