Three Inaugurations Poem by Anne Higgins

On Nixon's second,
we migrated to the living room
of our crowded row house in Baltimore
on January 20,1973,
all of us young, in our first or second jobs
after college, living like hippies with paychecks
and phone bills,
friends, lovers, hangers-on
with us, sitting on the worn grey rug
from someone's family attic.
We sat on the floor in front of the TV
as we did when we were children
watching Howdy Doody.
We smoked and laughed at Nixon
as we did when we were children
watching Howdy Doody,
laughed like defeated Democrats.

On Carter's only,
snow barricaded the curbs
on January 20,1977.
We rode the bus across Washington
in the frigid night, our evening gowns
under our coats.
When we walked over to Union Station
for Carter's Inaugural Party, in the knee-deep snow.
In the light from taxis and cars
the snow was lilac, and we laughed,
single and joyous Democrats,
carried our own bottles of champagne.

On Reagan's first,
Election Day started with pouring rain,
drenching me on the way to the polls
in Petersburg Virginia
to vote Democratic.
On January 20,1981, in the Washington Post,
an editorial writer sounded the warning:
poor people, watch out.
The limousines rolled down Pennsylvania Avenue.
The rich, back in town.
Thus was the inauguration of
Homelessness in America.