Daniel Romo
Conceding
The day after the election votes are still being counted,
and the man walking ten feet to my right whose shoes
look like they’ve seen better decades
has a conversation with himself and with those
who appear to be all the men
he used to be.
Pundits are counting the sums of red and blue states
trying to cast a light the color of layman’s terms,
so we can be at ease with at least
accepting the fate
of our next four years.
The mumbling man says, Gotta’ do better,
and for a moment I wonder if he is speaking of himself
or the nation, and when he yells, To hell with it!
I know our country
is in danger.
There is talk the president won’t vacate his position if
defeated,
and sometimes force is the only way we learn
the control we think we have is a fleeting term
modeled by the manner in which we acquire
loss.
I’m drawn back to the man to my right,
the independent thinker with the size 11 soiled shoes
because our souls, too, bear the filth
of so much tread and mudslinging,
and I wonder if either candidate
will be able to help
any of us at all.
—Submitted on 12/29/2020
Daniel Romo is the author of Apologies in Reverse (FutureCycle Press, 2019), When Kerosene’s Involved (Mojave River Press, 2014), and Romancing Gravity (Silver Birch Press 2013). His poetry and photography can be found in The Los Angeles Review, PANK, Gargoyle, Yemassee, and other journals. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte, and he lives and teaches in Long Beach, Calif. More at danielromo.wordpress.com.
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