By Ernie McCray

(This Awakening in the Midst of Madness Feels So Good)

Lately I’ve been feeling so good.
Like a little boy would
unwrapping the toy
he most wanted
on Christmas Day
simply because
we, as a society, finally,
the first opportunity
we got to have a say,
said “Enough is enough”
to a pretend president
who has had his way
trampling on our collective psyche
without mercy
like a hungry bull
trying to knock down
a barn door
separating him from a bale of hay.

But when the polls
in precincts closed
across the USA,
that anxiety ridden
election day,
we had saved the day,
and not a minute too soon
as we gave ourselves
a much needed boon
in dealing with a buffoon’s
tomfoolery, his
dominating the “Breaking News!”
doing anything and everything
he wants to
whenever and however
he chooses to
as if
all of the Milky Way,
is his
to play with.
Day after day after day!

Oh, how I’ve yearned
for such a momentous day.
Looking straight on
at an awakening
is quite a sight
for sore eyes,
like some gift from
beyond the skies:
Inhabitants of a democracy
coming to recognize
how power can be actualized,
that voting is rather wise,
that there has to be something to life
other than drowning in
a social and political climate
where fear and distrust
and devil-may-care mayhem
reign
by both design and by whim

Now, I’m not
going to get all
starry eyed
and teary eyed
and naïve
in my elation
but this coming of age
in our nation
just makes me
feel fresh
and alive inside,
as a wilting rose,
given water,
would be revived
if tended to
just in the nick of time.

So I sense
that we’ve taken the first baby steps
on a path
leading to the kind of society
we were meant to be
since never have we honored our diversity
as we just did,
all those firsts:
first Latina,
first Black,
first Native Americans,
first Muslims,
first Transgender,
first Openly Gay
first Somali refugee…

Women galore!
So many running
and winning
like never before…

Fresh new ideas
rising to the fore,
with people voting more and more,
in much larger numbers than times before,
discovering what they can do
and how they can do it
and doing it –
like “woke” folks should.

An awakening in the midst of madness.
And it feels so good.

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Ernie McCray

I was raised in a loving and alive home, in a black neighborhood filled with colorful characters in Tucson, Arizona. Such an environment gave me a hint that life has to be grabbed by the tail as tight as a pimple on a mosquito's butt. With no BS and a whole lot of love. So, from those days to now I get up every morning set on making the world a better place. On my good foot*, and I hope my writing reflects that. *an old black expression

Latest posts by Ernie McCray (see all)

• Should Democrats, like Superman, Seek ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’? - December 10, 2018
• Saying Goodbye to a Friend Who Gave Me a Helping Hand - November 28, 2018
• An Awakening - November 21, 2018