Visiting the Wisconsin capitol one year
after protests to collective bargaining
On the third floor
under the great rotunda
there’s an advocacy
hearing for the disabled--
a Down’s syndrome boy
is flapping a paper, it’s
a crayon drawing
to fight budget cuts,
he’s growling like a tiger,
his grrrr
swelling the dome.
Outside the meeting room
a clump of legislators
caucus. The boy waves
his drawing and growls,
grrrr, he’s
no poster
boy, he’s an avenger
for action from the
gray suits, his prey.
In the Assembly
Chambers the legislators
honor the memory of
one of its great fallen
statesmen with a
proclamation and a
plaque for his
surviving family,
all of this is duly
entered in the record
and the legislators
vote and clap for
this fallen lion of
the people.
In the great room
a page delivers
cheeseheads to
an Assemblywoman—
they sit piled on her desk
like perfect faux
cheddar wheel slices.
The Assembly honors
the makers of these
wonders as the speaker
dons a cheesehead
and smiles for a
photo-op and partisan
snickering.
Then let it be known
that an 11-year-old boy
named Noah is called
to the chambers, he’s
the citizen who raised
money to save a
woman’s home from
foreclosure—she raised
100 foster kids
in that house--the
Assembly claps and
bestows Noah with
the Hometown Hero
award and thus
the sworn members
under this rotunda
applaud this fierce
boy for achieving
where they have
failed.
