When I Am Elected President
I will rise like mist from the river of childhood.
I will invest in love and prosperity
the way a dog digs at fleas.
I will put an end to small print, mumbling teens,
left turns, litter and fraud.
Yes, friends, with your support I will require
and inspire. That is why we need me.
I am that man, and that woman.
I will change the course. I will not get damp
doing it. I will stand with you, for you, about you.
I will stand, and stand firm.
There is no end to what you can do
to help me in this great cause.
There are great challenges, and no problem.
I smile to say. There is no stone I cannot crumble
in my hand, or, failing that, roll away
from the cave mouth forever.
I am tough yet permeable, diligent and low-cal,
self-winding, progressive, omnidirectional.
I am not just good to look at,
but go ahead, grab an eyeful.
I will not hear a discouraging word.
Not even seldom. This is not negotiable.
I will and that's a promise.
I will bless America. America
will bless me. And that's the kind
of campaign this will be.
Thank you all very much.
I will thank you repeatedly. I will
thank the dawn and the dusk. I will thank
the Mississippi, the Hudson, and all
their tributaries.
I will repeat myself.
In doing so I will thank the Mississippi
and all its fine and gravelly tributaries,
places where greatness has bloomed unnoticed,
until now, until I noticed it,
and noticing, spoke. For I will speak,
and it will be like lotion and balm,
my speech as a salve and ointment,
a healing poultice. I will be homeopathic
yet cutting edge. I will say so, and so shall it be.
So shall it be, I say, along the Mohawk,
the Colorado, the Missouri and Ohio,
so shall it be on the Chattahoochie,
so shall it be on the Big Fork, Small Fork, Dessert Fork,
and the New. Above all the New. The New
shall be my new name and my old. I will be
and am. And so shall it be.
And so shall it be.
—David Graham, Ripon, WI
