From now until at least the midterm elections in November, we’ll be featuring essays from powerful cultural voices alongside one simple thing, chosen by the author, that you can do to take action against the paralyzing apoplexy of the daily news. Maybe it’ll be an organization that deserves your donation; maybe it’ll be an issue that deserves greater awareness. Whatever it is, our aim is to remind you, and ourselves, of the big and small things we can do to work toward justice and change.
I Commit
I commit to vote in 2018 because
I’m pretty sure I grab
whatever I need from the world
and place it in my mind
which is getting incrementally
like the commons
undeniably more toxic and sad
yes I too walk around
considering my intractable problems
complaining it’s too late
for more sonatas
everything is already too beautiful
music and anger won’t save us
yet I commit to talking
earnestly with my wife
about the school board
it will be night and we will be sitting
shoulder to shoulder
at the old table we love
each holding a pencil
like grade school children left alone at last
then in the morning
before my son wakes
I commit to holding
this tiny bit of quicksilver
(quick in the sense of living
in its very molecular nature
it wants to usefully combine with yours)
in my palm and to walking
up to the blue mailbox
I pass most mornings
in that familiar silence
under those nameless little trees
when all things that surround me wait
Take action today:
If this poem has a call to action, it is to vote — not just in the presidential or even congressional elections, but all the way down the ballot. If you don’t know who or what to vote for in local elections, ask a politically oriented friend or find out whom a trusted politician is endorsing. Some communities, like the Bay Area, have excellent resources like the SPUR Voter Guide. Nationally, you can go to the League of Women Voters to see all the different positions of the local candidates. If you’re feeling socially ambitious, organize a little ballot party to talk about local candidates and propositions. If we all did this, things would change faster than we could believe.
Matthew Zapruder is a poet, professor, translator, and editor. His most recent book, the essay collection Why Poetry, was published in 2017.