Marianne Williamson is running for president

 Marianne serves herself up on a half shell, raw and true.  

Proudly calloused

    from the last campaign, she makes 

    her grand return by noting

streets are littered with more bodies 

than cigarette butts.

By noting Americans want

     to live a normal life 

     yet feel the shade 

of ruin nearby. 

And so Marianne confronts the powerful

        and calls for mercy.  

     Marianne overcomes despair

with spiritual ideas 

like love 

      which the powerful dismiss 

      as beneath them. 

Marianne carves up their coldness 

      and swears that

      kindness can heal the cold-eyed 

exchange of money. 

To Marianne, the campaign is a crusade 

and the podium her pulpit 

      and politics is for all the people.

Marianne cries for the ways

    we have been abandoned

by the leaders. 

Their promises passed down 

      and around, 

like clothes in a washer. 

She says don’t believe things

they say that hurt you 

        but believe in something 

that will not hurt you. 

Marianne ought to rein supreme. 

But the party thinks not. 

They mock her.  

I dream of Marianne basking 

in the media-curated sunlight, 

        of the whole nation holding her ideas

in its palms. 

And Marianne saying, Thank you all 

     for coming, 

     for being  raw and true.  

      

For knowing all lives matter.