Today is a day for politics and all that signifies. I suppose, as dark as the times have been of late, we might be forgiven if we approach the polls with a bit of cynicism. Certainly many of our very greatest poets have shared our misgivings over the political forces that shape our lives and dictate our opportunities, including my personal hero, William Butler Yeats.

If you’d like to bolster your perspective, I recommend a quick trip over to The Agonist, where Bruce Jacobs has a Poem for Tuesday that’s exceptionally salient for the task ahead. If you’re in a mood for more after your visit with Sandburg, feel free to wander back over here for a discussion of the imperative of political poetry. You may not feel better, exactly, but maybe you’ll at least feel that you’re in good company.

Regardless of which levers you pull today, know that there is poetry in the booth with you.