As I struck the first
chords and began singing
“What a Wonderful World,”
it appeared that green birds
began flying into
my hat on the ground
from all directions.
A tiny, elderly lady passing by
abruptly stopped walking.
Shaking a bit, she got $5
from her change purse,
bent down, and put it in.
I saw what they
were all doing—
the same thing, really, as
the three twenty-somethings
who had sung along
on the chorus of “Hallelujah.”
They were voting:
standing up
for the molecules
of a public space
being drenched
in a vision of love
they believed in.
Sometimes, yes,
money is speech.
(8/16/15)
