Second Coming No. 40 — Feb. 28, 2025
A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
Steve Nickman Waiting for the Dictator After Cavafy Why are the people all looking at their phones? Because they want to know what the dictator will do when he comes a month from now. Four years ago he sent his barbarians to lay waste the Capitol. They were jailed and he had to wait until the new election. When the dictator comes he will release them from prison. Why isn’t anything happening in the Senate? Why do the senators sit there and make no laws? Because the dictator is coming next month. What laws can the senators make now? When the dictator comes he will make the laws. Why are there “Closed” signs on the government’s doors? Why is our leader rushing to pardon officers who followed the laws? Why are so many people wearing red hats and red neckties? And why are foreign presidents suddenly traveling to Florida? Because the dictator has his own agents who will run the offices. They will accuse the old office-holders of crimes. Red hats and neckties mean allegiance to the dictator. He has threatened our old allies. And why do our statesmen not speak forthrightly to the dictator, share their wisdom? Because the dictator is bored by rhetoric, does not believe in wisdom or science or friendship. Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion? Why are the streets emptying so rapidly? Why the serious look on the citizens’ faces? Because the dictator has told us what he will do on the first day. They are frightened. He will take away our old protections. We wondered if he would come but now it is certain. That might be a kind of solution. Without a dictator what would become of us?
Steve Nickman is the author of the poetry collection To Sleep with Bears (Wordtech, 2022). His poems have appeared in Pleiades, Nimrod, Summerset Review, Tar River Review, Tule Review, and other journals. Nickman is a psychiatrist who works primarily with children, teenagers, and young adults. He lives in Brookline, Mass.
Indolent Books and editor Michael Broder are back with another poem-a-day series as a creative response to the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.
Find out how to submit poems or flash prose pieces to Second Coming.
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