A Poem by Joseph DeMarco

The Incumbent Must Die

From the tops of the skyscrapers
To the freedom bells that ring,
Let all the registered voters
And poor children sing,

'We have had quite enough,
Of this corrupt game;
We must vote them all out
Or suffer more of the same.'

Politician marionettes attached to
Wall Street banks and Big Oil,
Public interest groups partying it up,
While citizens suffer and toil.

Health care companies
Drive prices to the skies,
Then manufacture candidates
With a hidden agenda of lies.

Campaign finances are kicked back
Through greed and corruption;
Monuments built to the politician's vanity
That contribute to the environment's destruction.

From our once purple mountain majesties
To our diminishing amber waves of grain,
It is time for the incumbent
To feel some of the pain.

For WE have the power,
And we must take it back,
Chase them politicians,
Go on the attack!

Vote them all out,
Tell their lips that all lie,
Vote them all out,
The Incumbent Must Die.

Joseph DeMarco was born in New York City; he grew up in Buffalo, NY. He has taught seventh grade on the island of Oahu, Hawaii for the last ten years. He is the author of the novels Plague of the Invigilare, The 4 Hundred and 20 Assassins of Emir Abdullah-Harazins, At Play in the Killing Fields, Blind Savior, False Prophet, and Vegans Are Tastier. He worked on the restoration of Pu'u Kohola Heiau