By: Chuck Orloski

(November 2016)

“America no longer has a functioning democracy.” Jimmy Carter to Oprah; September 2015.

Look see – there’s Crazy Lydia!
A retired Scranton School District teacher,
she stands beside a Diebold voting machine
as if looking into a densely populated coffin
which has a wonderful view of Mar-a-Lago
including toppled statues, Cruz and naked Ryan.
Townspeople knew Lydia lost her marbles
many years ago when she taught, “rich men
set up a President to keep eye on Congress,
a Congress to keep eye on the President,
a Supreme Court to keep eyes on both of them
and a bold electronic voter All Seeing Eye where
outcomes are rigged and the Throne never loses.”

Lydia’s left hand shook while doing
her best to blacken an oblong space faraway
from the names, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Repetitive voices in her head, “Die Bold, Die Bold.”
Numb, she stared at her Voter I.D. photo
and how democratic dysfunctional she had become.
Lydia pushed the long thin sheet of paper into
coffin’s plastic trap… “Will Jill take Woodstock?”
Printed receipt in hand, Lydia’s vote’s handled
by a purple fingered faceless undertaker
and she no longer cared about the long night returns.