84 feet

[diamond_ace 3,114]

for once in a year

the world pauses

to watch a leatherbound sun

as it goes into two similar orbits

84 feet apart

 

daily routines become paradoxes of nothing

as every sound, every flash of light, every moment of attention

is turned toward this globe of promise 

as though it were the only thing in the world

and for two brief days it is

 

two more days after, life gradually returning to normal

hope extinguished for half

hope enflamed for the rest

another net, another buzzer, another hosing out the chance

for half of the half

 

complete strangers halfway across the continent

wanting the same thing to happen at the same time

the following week it doesn't happen

they return to their lives

thinking no one has it like them

 

everyone has it like them

 

not at the same time, not in the same place 

but everyone has it like them

 

84 feet separating the hope from the hopeless

 

five days later

rinse, repeat

another half tastes the dryness of no longer

chomping at the bit for a win

 

so few left, many have given up

routines resuming, the globe of promise letting down almost all

four remain

then two

then one

 

and for the one 

the celebration is short lived

so much else to do

so many areas to focus, to fix, to patch together

 

until next year when the leatherbound sun

travels yet another 84 feet

 

math says division by halves will never fully reach zero

this is not math

this is madness

this is march.

[Molholt 2,185]

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