Interregnum

Interregnum

The time between kings,

Between emperors,

No Cincinnatus—no hero here nor near,

No Caesar Julius—no betrayer nor Ide’s-fixed.

            Or is there, immortalized, Shakespearean sonnet:

                        Passed? Passable?

Between kings, between queens:

            Secrets and intelligence,

                        Hushed and sinister.

            Vice’s quiet successions,

                        Prince and princess lost.

            Commons, Lords, and Billionaires,

                        Hapsburgs to Rothschilds.

Ticking off the days,

Ex’s in squares:

Saints and Saviors:

Jesus’s Day,

MLK’s Day,

Washington’s Day,

Patrick’s Day,

Resurrection’s Day,

Earth’s Day,

Memorial’s Day,

Independence’s Day,

Labor’s Day,

Indigenous People’s Day:

Square circles, round pegs,

Pounding on tribes.

Memorials in knots.

The time between time,

Between digital blinks.

No calendars—no seconds to discard.

No doomsday minutes—no clock rolling back.

Or is there, waiting beyond midnight bombs:

                        Atomic border busters?

The time between bookends:

Vote-counts and Inauguration,

            Queued up to used up.

Thanksgiving and Valentine’s,

                        Filled up to fueled up.

Veteran’s Day and President’s Day,

            Victors to winners.

The time between elections:

The formers and the futures,

Lilacs to poppies,

Crises and Smooth transitions,

Parties to protests,

Children and autocrats look on:

Freedom’s beacon to...

Read more of my poetry, essays, and stories at Momentitiousness.com