Back in 1986, almost 30 years before he became a surprisingly credible and race-changing candidate for the 2016 presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders was the mayor of Burlington, Vt. During his administration, from 1981-1989, he wrote letters to leaders around the world about disarmament, apartheid, and the conflict in Nicaragua, and he became a hero of sorts to liberal figures and artists in the United States.
One of those artists was Allen Ginsberg, who visited Burlington in February 1986. The famous Beat poet composed a short poem for Sanders, who calls himself a “democratic socialist,” and the poem is contained in Sanders’s mayoral archives. It was recently rescued from obscurity in this Sanders profile in the Guardian. Called “Burlington Snow,” the piece is a playful and thought-provoking take on socialism, nature, and literature.
Socialist snow on the streets
Socialist talk in the Maverick bookstore
Socialist kids sucking socialist lollipops
Socialist poetry in socialist mouths
– aren’t the birds frozen socialists?
Aren’t the snowclouds blocking the airfield
Social Democratic Appearances?
Isn’t the socialist sky owned by
the socialist sun?
Earth itself socialist, forests, rivers, lakes
furry mountains, socialist salt
in oceans?
Isn’t this poem socialist? It doesn’t
belong to me anymore.
Maybe this will be Bernie’s campaign slogan?
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewGilbert.