We've been hearing on Kos a lot about more conservative places where people are slowly moving to Obama - I've been canvassing in my home city, Philadelphia, where people are really fired up about Obama, and this excitement is bringing people together from totally different backgrounds in a way I've never been witness to before.
I wrote a poem about it that I thought I'd share, just in case it inspires someone else to start volunteering. I'm not a poet by trade, but I do like to dabble every so often. Please, if you live in a place gripped by Obama fever, it will be so exciting - and if you live somewhere else it will be doubly important. Everything good you've heard about volunteering is true!
the Candidate & Philadelphia
For what the country without its city?
For what the nation without the sands
where man meets man meets man meets man,
where violence is planted but it’s hope that stands
the greatest among us on their suffering hands.
For what the alliance without the stones
that every morning adjust and groan
underneath our feet as we leave our home
and see ourselves lined up by shoulder,
as the city breathes we all behold her.
For what my home without my neighbor?
Above us, below us, beyond that slim river,
lost or longing, in their gaze a sliver
of common hunger, in their stance a shiver,
as their courage grows into a fever.
For what our eyes with none to meet?
Our leader calls us to our feet,
each downward gaze we look to greet,
the pride of the city builds hour by hour,
the light is spreading from tower to tower,
each man we meet grants us strength and power.
-G.Brannigan