This is Denise Levertov:

Ah, Grief, I should not treat you
like a homeless dog
who comes to the back door
for a crust, for a meatless bone.
I should trust you.

I should coax you
into the house and give you
your own corner,
a worn mat to lie on,
your own water dish.

You think I don't know you've been living
under my porch.
You long for your real place to be readied
before winter comes. You need
your name,
your collar and tag. You need
the right to warn off intruders,
to consider
my house your own
and me your person
and yourself
my own dog.

Doesn't this sound like Jim Lowe's "Talking to the Blues"?

Talking to the blues
Talking to the blues
Since my baby left me I've been talking to the blues
Good morning blues
How you feeling today
You dog
Might as well pull up a chair
Looks like you're here for quite a stay

Sighing to the blues
Crying to the blues
Morning after morning alibi-ing to the blues
Sit down bad news
Yeah the coffee's still hot
You dog
I'm gonna take good care of you
'Cause you're the only friend I've got

Help me to remember now where were we when I finally fell asleep yeah
I remember I was telling you telling how her cheating cut me deep

Talking to the blues
Talking to the blues
Since my baby left me I've been talking to the blues
Old buddy blues
Yeah take my last cigarette
You dog
Have a million laughs on me
But please teach me to forget

Talking to the blues
Talking to the blues
Since my baby left me I've been talking to the blues
Old buddy blues
Yeah take my last cigarette
You dog
Have a million laughs on me
But please teach me to forget
Blues you are the lowest
You dog

I'm gonna swat the writer of this sentence with a rolled up newspaper:

"When the 1965 Act eliminated literacy tests, poll taxes and gave the federal government added tools to punish anti-voting terrorists and protect access to the franchise, the enemies of democracy turned to other means."
-- Julian Bond, www.tompaine.com


I know everyone does it, but in a list of three things set off with commas, you cannot have the third item be a verbal phrase.

SUBJ: The 1965 Act
VERB: eliminated
OBJ of VERB (3 items): Literacy tests| poll taxes | gave the federal government added tools

See that last bit? it is not a noun, and is not the object of the verb.

This is a 2-verb sentence (section of a sentence, actually, because it's wrapped in further verbiage)
ELIMINATED (a and b) and
GAVE a.

It therefore should not have a comma after 'literacy tests,' but an AND. Yes, you get two ANDs within a short distance of each other. If you dont like that, then recast the sentence