Election Day

politics 1 Minute

We stand by the school gate, pasted around with framed faces. She is talkative. He is European. And the other one is mostly silent, somewhat of a black sheep. I feel like a black sheep too, not even daring to hope for happiness. I lean against the fence, my aching hips and the how-to-vote cards in my hand.

“Where do I find a democracy sausage?” asks one person. But it’s too late for those. “They’re all eaten” says the European, his white hair gesturing to the sky. I look up to the early moon, the opaque mask of it, swaddling a few inches of the waning blue. I can almost hear its mirth. “Democracy sausages!” it seems to say. “Eaten away! Nom, nom.”

Voters dribble by… hobble… march. Here, with our colourful sheafs of tomorrow’s rubbish, we see them all with their prams and dogs, sadnesses and beauties. We recognise stars or daggers in their eyes and we cheerfully bid them “have a lovely afternoon”. And when they’re gone, we converse very carefully and cheerfully, knowing that the spaces between us are far wider than the footpath or the corflutes or the pretty autumn evening.

                   across the nation                     
           anonymous people with pencil & paper                     
                      the sky turns to teal

Written for Go Dog Go Cafe’s Wednesday Haibun

NB: In the lead up to today’s Federal election in Australia, there has been a huge groundswell pushing for Independents to represent communities instead of the kind of white-wash effect of party politics. A group of these Independents have come to be known as “the Teals” because of the colour of their marketing.

Published by abigfatcanofworms

We all walk in the dark. But if we hold hands, perhaps the dark won't be as scary.

Published

23 thoughts on “Election Day”

  2. Understandably so Worms 👍😊 Elections are important I feel. And I’m all for voting for the person and their principals as opposed to the traditional party politics with all their empty promises. Hopefully ye’re independant candidates will come good! 🙏🤞😁

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      1. Fingers crossed. You never know. I think a lot of the Left get a rude awakening when they finally get into government.
        The new guy will have to worry about those catastrophic coal mines versus economic benefit, for example. But, you know, there is a “right” path. It’s better that he won rather than Morrison.

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      2. If they haven’t figured out that the economy and the environment are intrinsically linked, they are stupider than I thought. There is so much now on transition. And several examples to follow. eg. Germany. I am so over the economy being used as an excuse for making the planet unliveable. 🙄

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      4. Yes but they transitioned out of brown coal in the Ruhr Valley very successfully. I think it was a 10 year plan making sure they trained all the employees to new careers. I’m not saying they have acted all forms of climate change action. Just that they have provided a successful template for transition.

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    1. Thanks Ulle. Voting is compulsory here. I think that’s a good thing but not everybody does. And some years it’s easy to feel like your vote is worthless anyway. But you’re so right. We need to appreciate it.

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  8. We didn’t get a democracy sausage either or a cake, even though we were in Canberra and went looking at a few polling stations for bake sales. 😦 We got to one just in time to see the last 2 cupcakes sold.
    I think our system works well, on the whole. Compulsory voting means everyone gets a chance to vote, and if they don’t want to they can show up, get ticked off, and then throw their ballot paper in the bin as a protest. But no one gets excluded. Having polling stations at every primary school just makes so much sense, and is a great fundraising opportunity for schools. If they only they’d had more cupcakes!
    You must be pretty happy with the results. 🙂 I am too. So good to see the right-wing nut-jobs out of office, and more women elected.

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    1. Lol. It’s a thing in Australia. Polling booths are often at the local public school and It’s an opportunity for the zchools to fund raise. So they have cake stalls and sausage sizzles for voters to purchase. Elections are always on a Saturday here and voting is compulsory.

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