The ballot box

I wrote this following a visit to an exhibition on in the Fruitmarket Gallery In Edinburgh.  It was a visit with my creative writing group to an exhibition of  Brazilian Art. The piece that impacted on me was 10 cut down black ballot boxes that held up the mirror to the lack of democracy in Brazil at that time; the artist as Antonio Dias and the date 1968.

I found myself drawn to them, me the political anorak, staring at the empty ballot boxes and living through a time of shifting political sands here in Scotland and across the UK. The reminder that democracy is precious and that those who do not vote, have no voice and remain unheard. My  hope is these changing times will result in electoral reform to reduce our democratic deficit in the UK and also create a new cultural of more collaborative politics, more responsive to the people. But to do that first we have to vote......

The Ballot Box

They are ten

Unopened, unheard

Their presence unsettling

Isolated connected

Black, open mouthed

They stand

In silence

Shouting quietly

Look at me

Compelling

Repelling

Those voices unheard

Those votes uncast

Present in those

Ten black cubes

Of lost opportunity

But in that silence

There is power

A cold black anger

And we

Are dared to listen