While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening / to empire
And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the / mass hardens,
I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots / to make earth.
--from “Shine, Perishing Republic” by Robinson Jeffers
Last Tuesday was primary day in North Carolina, so I went out to cast my vote for Bernie Sanders. It didn’t do much good here, where Hillary Clinton was heavily favored to win the Democratic primary.