A Rhyming Story of Activism Glory (and not)

Possibly the strangest paragraph I have ever written: Saturday, April 18, 2020, while self isolating during a global pandemic, I participated in Zoom talent show fundraiser being judged by a New York State Senator and Assembly Member. I coiffed my hair and wore a fancy sparkly cocktail dress with bare feet. My talent was a spoken word poem that included direct or indirect mentions of President Obama, that other so-called president, New York State Senator Gianaris, the defunct New York Independent Democratic Conference, The True Blue Coalition, Ricky Silver, my Dad, New York State Senator Biaggi, Tiffany Cabán, all Indivisibles, and my activist family. There was an insane amount of talent but somehow I came in as second runner up!

Best part: we raised over $4,000 and counting for VOCAL-NY!

Here’s my poem:

Let me take you back

To a time before activist slack

When I always voted

But on activism I never doted

When there was Barack Obama

And a lot less Twitter drama

Then one day BOOM

We were set up for doom

Donald Trump had won

We were stunned

What had we done?

Our country fried?

Our democracy died?

‘HELL NO’ we cried!

The people we will rise

Against the tyrant we despise

We will not compromise

I became an Indivisible

I learned how to make my opinions visible

And my elected leaders miserable

With calls letters tweets

Protests in the streets

Bringing our progressive demands to their feet

Holding to account is oh—so—sweet

Protest all

Relentless calls

Empty seat town halls

It is never dull

Want to make a blizzard better

Go table a constituent letter

Canvassing in the heat

That can’t be beat

And in the pouring rain

That’s no refrain

The issues were Scotus, healthcare, war,

School shootings, the marginalized and poor,

Nazis in the street, and so-much-more

And always always immigration immigration immigration

Sad sad days for our nation

Then one day in 2017 March

My state senator with his shirt starched

Said that in New York Roe vs Wade

The codify had not been made

And so much more was due

We were without a clue

Our state senate was not true blue

Senators got the Democratic vote

And then became turncoat

Democrats a la Trump

Who we needed to dump

On their phony lying rumps

My senator talking about the I-D-C

And everyone knew what our mission was to be

It wasn’t easy

The opposition made us queasy

It wasn’t sunny

There was no money

But it would get done

And it would be fun

To the Bronx every Sunday

Calls texts and postcards every Monday

To Brooklyn, Staten Island, upstate, and Queens deep

Because democracy does not sleep

We thought we’d win one two maybe three

but hey, grassroots canvassers, we work for free

When primary day came

The IDC had us to blame

We felt no shame

It was a great defeat

It came with a great stress eat

Ricky’s anxiety was not coy

But hey, today he’s the birthday boy

After the election

We went in a new direction

It was fair elections

This was tough

This was rough

And we could not do quite enough

It came down to the 2019 budget fight

Oh-what-a-night

3am watching the livestream

It was a bad dream

Made me want to scream

It was bad

I was mad

I was sad

Far from glad

I turned into my Dad

Messaging my state senator all night

Because I wanted him to shine some light

I went from being his constituent who talked

to his constituent who stalked

But moving forward it won't be a plight

Won’t give us a fright

It will be alright

Because as of Friday last Senator Biaggi is leading this fight

What came next in 2019 that was so dope

Tiffany Cabán in my home borough giving hope

Trying break the party machine

Trying to end injustice for my Queens

That June primary night was swell

Too bad it didn’t end so well

But hey we fought like hell

All of this inspired me to do more

To fight to have a voice on the floor

So maybe next year

When we are here

Not on Zoom but truly near

This will be my oral history

Of my election victory

One more note

As important as getting out the vote

All the people I have met

Some maybe we should have vet

But yet

To all WE owe a great debt

Those who got off the benches

Into the trenches

Ignored the wrenches

To put up with jerks

To be policy dorks

To make it work

To go to every floor

Knock another door

And never ever bore

You are democracy's core

The middle finger flicking

The bad ass kicking

The IDC licking

Empire State and all Indivisibles

Never invisible

Always always bringing the deliverables

You know who you are

And you are all by far

Superstars

FRIENDS I call you loudly

FAMILY I call you proudly