It’s a Whole Different Story

By Leopoldo Seguel

This is the story of an old man

sitting on the couch with his wife

watching the news, night after night

Listening to people trying to make sense

of the senseless and outrageous

they both like seeing people, lot of people

all across the country, in big cities and small towns

out in the streets, carrying signs,

inflatable costumes, frogs and dinosaurs

pushing back, pushing forward

They shake their fists

They shout at the TV

They wring their hands

They are witnesses to others making history

Today they are off the couch.

One of hundreds crossing back and forth

When the lights all turn red

it’s Walk All Ways

And so they Walk All Ways

pouring into the intersection

from all four corners

from the neighborhood record store

where Pearl Jam once played a gig

From the new ice-cream shop serving

Cookie Dough or Salted Carmel cones

Checking out each other’s homemade signs

Nodding in approval, smiling big

Chatting with the green painted Lady Liberty.

Thanking the guy holding a large American flag

Every time the lights turn red

into the intersection they go

eye to eye with strangers

who today are friends in common cause

Chanting this is what democracy looks like

Now this is a whole different story

They are witnesses to themselves making history

Leopoldo Seguel, co-edits the online magazine, Breathe, and has hosted PoetryBridge for 16 years, a monthly poetry reading in West Seattle. Once, a young social activist, he has become an old man often found sitting on a couch with his wife watching the news.