fifteen from midnight

it was midnight

i had dust on my eyelashes

and there was paint on the floor

on which i lay stomach-down

and serious

where does time go on holiday

and why does my neck feel

like i’m eighty

rather than twenty

when i have roommates

i’ll volunteer to cook

so long as they’ll

wash up

i love cooking

and hate sinkloads

of dirty dishes

although i like

bubbles

i’ll cook with garlic

olive oil

lemon zest

fresh basil and one hundred other

delicious, delightful spices

i don’t use

recipes

i’m painting my chair

red

with striped rungs

and daisies

quirky, offbeat

will be the finished product

which i want to be

(finished and quirky)

hopefully unpredictable

for once

i will wear pink!

i will wear shorts!

i will hug boys!

some of my rules

are silly and pointless

the kind made for

breaking

and freedom

i’d like to

dye my hair red

and be a

bohemian artist

and meditate

in cathedral cloisters

oh, my dreams are many

and my eyes are drooping

now that it’s

12:15