Election Section

Based on a poem by Hafiz 

I love this poem: 

His idea hit home. 

You God, as a big fat person on a small boat 

With fat me afloat. 

When we bump into each other ‘fore and ‘aft 

We laugh and laugh. 

Fat is the big sin of our day, 

So we both are sinners? 

Hey hey hey! 

And the idea of no distance-no room to detach 

As in “I need my space” (that au courant pop-phrased catch) 

Is not the way, 

At least not today. 

But oh the idea of all this being  

comedy, 

Has me grin like grits-or a bowl of hominy! 

Our fatness no shame 

But in laughter we came 

Into such closeness-or maybe peril. 

If we laugh too hard, the boat as  

herald 

warns the waters all deep around, 

So we laugh and laugh from way underground 

That bubbles up to a surface calm, 

While waters beneath us offer balm. 

Fat Lordy, bump me in this  

morning’s light; 

Let dawn’s small boat recede the  

night.. 

—Nance Wogan