An Inauguration Day Poem
Can I exhale now?
Can my waist crack and
Stomach slump
May I let the impatient air rush back
To starveling lungs?
Am I foolish to ask?
The tears don’t come at first
Oh no, this veil’s been sewn too well
Too much has damaged this gaze
I clamp stone around this heart
And smile sparingly
Atrocity after atrocity has mounted around me
Lumping together
Into a blurry
Horrifying
Midsummer night’s dream
Yet I’m expected to rejoice
unquestioning
as the dawn rises
Relief is not an instant
impulse
But I smile anyway
Sorrel syrup in my glass, I toast to hope
As my ribs cry out
I shiver in my dress and
Keep this mind too slow
To catch up to righteous fears
Head dizzy with sugar and laughter
I come to loosen
At the speed of change in my country
I know that to go soft too soon
Would invite wounds
So I wait until I am alone
Until I can stretch the knots out of my limbs
It is only now
After the glitter has been swept up
I can even ask
Does this mean, be calm?
Does this mean untie?
Untuck?
Come unstuck again?
I shed my saltwater today at the very notion
Atira C. © 2020. All rights reserved.
