no choice

by the fifth phone call
i'm
sassy
and sarcastic to the caller.
are you going to vote
they say.
the election is tomorrow.
do you need a ride,
remember to bring
an ID.
we're counting on you.
I sigh, and listen to the young
voice on the other end
of the line.
I think of Nixon.
Johnson, kennedy.
we are living in a world of
hot air balloons
now.
the uneducated masses
who stare at their phones
and don't read books.
they listen and watch,
absorbing nothing
into their mush brains.
these are the leaders that
truly represent them.
you vote.
i'm not.