Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
struggle4progress
struggle4progress's Journal
struggle4progress's Journal
February 10, 2012
Poetry may not motivate folk to register to vote
So I had another of my many hare-brained ideas: I thought mebbe I'd write some poetry and head off to a community poetry night to see if I could snag some voter registrations
Lesson 1. Writing voter registration poetry is hard! This took more time than I expected!
Lesson 2. Community poetry nights can go on a long time! I was there about four hours in all!
Lesson 3. Either I met a whole lot of civic-minded poets or else mebbe some folk didn't tell me the whole truth. Anyway, my net voter registration score was zero. That's a new low for me in number of voter registrations in number of registrations per hour of effort
So I'm recycling my poem here:
REMEMBERIN FANNIE LOUS BLUES
Fannie Lou said later
she finally just got sick and tired
of bein sick and tired
Back in 62
Fannie and some friends took a bus
26 miles to the county courthouse
to register to vote
And when they got there
police were everywhere
First on the long registration form was:
what your name?
and next:
who you work for?
They all filled out the form
then got back on the bus again
to go the 26 miles
Fannie Lou was sick and tired of it
And the police followed them
stopped the bus
and fined everybody ridin on it
for ridin in a bus painted the wrong color
made them all dump out their pockets
thats how the police fixed the fine:
just took everybodys money
eighteen dollars and mebbe some change
Fannie Lou sure was sick and tired of it
She got home in the dark without any change
her boss was waitin there
and he told her she was fired
and he kicked her out of her house that he owned
Fannie Lou was so sick and tired of it
She found friends to stay with
and when shed been there a few nights
somebody shot sixteen bullets through the window
Oh! Fannie Lou was sick and tired of it
but Fannie Lou was also real sick and tired of bein sick and tired
so she didnt stop
Today the police dont follow you
when you want to register to vote
your boss cant fire you for that
you dont have to go 26 miles on a bus
and the form isnt very long
You can register here and now
and you can vote in May and November
You can take a minute to stand
on Fannie Lous strong shoulders
if you look, you'll see
thats why shes standin back there in 1962 and 63
I pray:
dear Lord
next time Im feelin sick and tired
please give me some of Fannie Lous blues
and make me sick and tired
of bein sick and tired
too
amen
Fannie Lou said later
she finally just got sick and tired
of bein sick and tired
Back in 62
Fannie and some friends took a bus
26 miles to the county courthouse
to register to vote
And when they got there
police were everywhere
First on the long registration form was:
what your name?
and next:
who you work for?
They all filled out the form
then got back on the bus again
to go the 26 miles
Fannie Lou was sick and tired of it
And the police followed them
stopped the bus
and fined everybody ridin on it
for ridin in a bus painted the wrong color
made them all dump out their pockets
thats how the police fixed the fine:
just took everybodys money
eighteen dollars and mebbe some change
Fannie Lou sure was sick and tired of it
She got home in the dark without any change
her boss was waitin there
and he told her she was fired
and he kicked her out of her house that he owned
Fannie Lou was so sick and tired of it
She found friends to stay with
and when shed been there a few nights
somebody shot sixteen bullets through the window
Oh! Fannie Lou was sick and tired of it
but Fannie Lou was also real sick and tired of bein sick and tired
so she didnt stop
Today the police dont follow you
when you want to register to vote
your boss cant fire you for that
you dont have to go 26 miles on a bus
and the form isnt very long
You can register here and now
and you can vote in May and November
You can take a minute to stand
on Fannie Lous strong shoulders
if you look, you'll see
thats why shes standin back there in 1962 and 63
I pray:
dear Lord
next time Im feelin sick and tired
please give me some of Fannie Lous blues
and make me sick and tired
of bein sick and tired
too
amen
Profile Information
Gender: MaleCurrent location: undisclosed
Member since: Fri Feb 27, 2004, 09:28 PM
Number of posts: 118,282