“Midterm Elections of Year Two Thousand Twenty Two: USA” — a poem by Arlene Corwin

November 8th, 2022

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photo by Phil Roeder/CC BY 2.0/via Flickr

CC BY 2.0

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Midterm Elections of Year Two Thousand Twenty Two: USA

“May the winner of the most votes actually end up serving, and may those winners accept defeat when it eventually comes to them”.

Paul Thornton, Los Angeles Times.
Nov.5.2022

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‘To be the same in wins and losses’:
Boss idea in Gita, (Bhagavad)
Probably each philosophical, wise, holy book
Ever looked upon or read.

Democracy is on the table.
Is it able to withstand those losers,
Runners-up who
At the same time having influence,
Authority and sway
Pushing one this or that way.
Persuasive, coaxing,
Often tempting for the hoaxing?

One must learn a giving in
In loss and win.
It is a sin
To not do so.

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Brooklyn-born Arlene Corwin is age 85, and is a harpist, pianist and singer –  a jazz musician forever.   She earned her BA at Hofstra Univ.  She has published 19 poetry books.  In the 1950s her mother owned a jazz club in Hempstead, Long Island with Slim Gaillard.  She currently lives in Sweden. 

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Watch a 2020 filmed performance of The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (with Wynton Marsalis) play “Deeper Than Dreams,” a song from the album The Democracy Suite

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