You don’t usually find poetry being spouted in News Hits, but Metro Times proofreader Dennis Shea slid a recent work of his across our desk, part of which we thought we’d share seeing as how it was inspired by a certain news event that captured the attention of a person or two. It’s titled “The Vote of His Life,” and it begins thusly:

I live in Florida, it’s pretty warm,
We get some rain, an occasional storm.
We’re not too rich, but we’re not poor;
I was leaning to Bush, then I said, why not Gore?
Election Day, it came and it went,
Lot of TV cameramen, sorry, “people,” I meant.
Seems our county clerk was asleep at the switch,
And made up a ballot with one little glitch.
Now I’d never made up my own wavering mind:
Bush, Gore; Gore, Bush.
It was like picking between a pair and two of a kind.
A friend said Nader’s the one to choose;
I said I’m going for one who might not lose.
But who?
Well, the GOP and Dems were fussing and fooling around,
And some judge said, “We got to have a recount.”
They did all that and still it’s tied,
So, no, he says, give revoting a try.
I’m really nervous as I’m driving to the polling place.
I mean it is the day after Christmas.
I still ain’t made my final pick,
The one who’s dumb or the one who’s slick …

Dennis Shea contributed to this week’s News Hits, which is edited by Curt Guyette. He can be reached at cguyette@metrotimes.com or 313-202-8004.