The populace, given to cavil and spleen,
were sympathetically, but skeptically seen
by the Founders, fathering the country’s path
by establishing against that wrath
bodies of cooler heads to be voted in and hold sway
after grave consideration. And I think of them today,
as a poll shows 6% of the voting public believe
that lizards from outer space have invaded our society,
and I go to my polling place, an old casino,
and pull the lever for the lemons, then exit to join my fellow
humankind, but, now alerted, everywhere aware
of all the lizardmen in their little suits, their cunning underwear.
Copyright 2016, Marilyn McCabe
Marilyn McCabe’s book of poems, Glass Factory, was published in spring 2016 by The Word Works. Her first full-length collection, Perpetual Motion, was published in 2012 by The Word Works as the winner of its Hilary Tham Capitol Collection Contest. Her poem “On Hearing the Call to Prayer Over the Marcellus Shale on Easter Morning” was awarded A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Orlando Prize in 2012. She blogs about writing and reading at marilynonaroll.wordpress.com.