INAUGURATION DAY

(January 20, 2009)

The sky came up like pewter,

plating red rooftops

down the long stepped drop

to the River, the Basin, the

Monument.

I remember how silent

that hush when the moment

came; then later a

stiff raw wind flapping

old papers and news

across the Mall. And

the slim figure poised

unsmiling, suddenly somber:

aware what galactic masses

settled on his head.

Version first published in District Lines: An Antholiogy (Vol. II), Summer 2014