Over a month into a new moment, not yet at a new normal, there’s still something lingering. And might just, for a long while to come.

House For Sale SOLD!

A man leaves a white house
and his long shadow fades from
the porticos and palladia
of his former residence, mostly.

A man leaves a white house
and his long shadow stretches
across the flaccid tail of America,
wags across keys and pan handles,
panhandling for the gold and the coin
necessary to stay unnecessarily relevant.

A man leaves a white house
and the stains in walls and in carpets,
on papers and on books, like a long shadow,
mark the tainted trespasses of his
torturous tenure.

A man leaves a white house
and his foibles and foolery follow
him, or lead as the court case may be,
and his long shadow, darkness on darkness,
darkened by darkness,
sucks the light from star-spangled America
and lights fires in darkest heart America
and hides truth and reality from already blindered America.

A man leaves a white house
and it is impossible to forgive
or forget his long shadow which,
though muted, still gapes & gasps,
guffaws & grumbles,
beneath shuffling paper rustles
of work being done.

A man leaves a white house
and despite the nose-to-the-grindstone
dive into repairs and renovations
(a bargain fixer-upper at 81 million or 1.7 billion or 306, 
depending on how you finance)
the long shadow keeps debasing & daunting,
hovering & haunting,
never quite giving way to 
new day’s light.

©David Siller – 2021

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !