Jerry Chasen's Blog

Bush had just “won” re-election. As I was writing this, I wasn’t at all sure how it would come out. I kind of surprised myself with the ending.

I was much cheered by Obama’s election, by the promise of “change you can believe in”. More important, though, was the seeming populist awakening that his candidacy represented–an awakening of individual and collective responsibility and I consider essential.

This was my first Holiday poem. My former partner had died a few weeks earlier of HIV. Though we were no longer together, it really hit me hard.