My Mother Goes to Vote in the American Election

My mother is the type,

who even if good old Santa Clause

is running for the local election,

would not vote for an obese white man.

for her the “X” is so precious,

you could say she thinks of herself,

as bigger than the whole electoral college.

She will never write on a festive card,

the word “X Mas” instead of Christmas

or do basic Algebra,

only telling me, how beautiful it was,

when I came out of her womb,

how a surgical aXe came useful that morning,

to cut the umbilical cord.

I guess 40 years ago, I had her vote. Her “X”.

I was the “X” in her X factor.

While she changes TV channels in haste now,

Every time she sees or hears,

An obese white man coming on TV,

A type absent of a silver beard; who they call,

democracy’s big daddy.

Published by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)

Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety. Dilantha blogs at – https://meandererworld.wordpress.com/ -, where he has nearly 2000 poems. View all posts by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)