Poem: Election Obsession

Editor's Note: Ahead of Tuesday's election, Cognoscenti's poet of the political scene, Erika Fine, confesses, in verse, to an acute case of Election Obsession.

E L E C T I O N  O B S E S S I O N 

I can’t relax, I’m glued online;
I fixate on the latest sign
That Donald may be gaining ground,
Or Clinton may not come around.
Emails, groping, talk of rape—
Each makes me want to hit “escape!”
A stranger tells me what to think
On Facebook with a tempting link.

My daily fix of TV news
Stars pundits with competing views
Oh, Rachel, Anderson or Don,
Please let me know what’s going on!

I listen closely, then I sigh;
They know little more than I.
But still I watch them, just in case,
There’s breaking news, a new disgrace,
A pivot in this crazy race,
A raucous call to Donald’s base,
Another Weiner fall from grace,
An FBI man out of place,
Or tantalizing public peek
At emails from a hacker’s leak.

I cannot bear to miss a beat,
A sign of promise or defeat.
My sips of pinot noir at night
Are not enough to quell my fright.

Oh, Slate, Salon, oh CNN,
Can someone somewhere tell me when
My normal need for nightly news
Became a craze I can’t defuse?

My home’s a mess, my work is late,
Yet still I never hesitate
To look online for one more poll,
But help, I haven’t got control. . .

Just “one more poll” turns into more
And pretty soon my eyes are sore
And afternoon has turned to night
And still there’s not an end in sight.

But yes, there is: Election Day!
My nerves and common sense will fray.
Oh, will I sob or will I gloat . . .
I hope I don’t forget to vote!