VOTE
Nikki Giovanni
It’s not a hug
Nor mistletoe at Christmas
It’s not a colored egg
At Easter
Nor a bunny hopping
Across the meadow
It’s a Vote
Saying you are
A citizen
Though it sometimes
Is chocolate
Or sometimes vanilla
It can be a female
Or a male
It is right
Or left
I can agree
Or disagree but
And this is an important but
I am a citizen
I should be able
To vote from prison
I should be able
To vote from the battlefield
I should be able
To vote when I get a driver’s license
I should be able
To vote when I can purchase a gun
I must be able
To vote
If I’m in the hospital
If I’m in the old folks’ home
If I’m needing a ride
To the Polling Place
I am a citizen
I must be able to vote
Folks were lynched
Folks were shot
Folks’ communities were gerrymandered
Folks who believed
In the Constitution were lied to
Burned out
Bought and sold
Because they agreed
All Men Were Created Equal
Folks vote to make us free
It’s not cookies
Nor cake
But it is the icing
That is so sweet
Good for the Folks
Good for Us
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