fancy frayed

i’ve imagined a tomorrow —

a whole series of them, in fact

suited for illustration

in comical pen and ink

to be sold for $20 a print

and hung on the walls

of the living rooms

of a set smarter

than i subscribe to —

and it is charming

with a cherry-red door

one million musty books

and a cat as big

as a baby lion

a pepper pot

and a salt shaker

you and i disguised

as crockery or glassware

quite content in our

glorious mundanity.

i say tomorrow

and i say imagined

but i could say forever

and not at all;

i could say dreamed

and destroyed

by wrecking ball.

i say suited for illustration —

caricature might

be more apt a description

of the eviction notices

i’ve served myself

in this regard. i say

smarter than i

and tell the truth

in essentials while

leaving the details fuzzy.

showing too much

is the artist’s downfall;

i’ll be a thurber bloodhound

gazing at a daisy

mournful that its petals

have been snatched

out of my greedy teeth.

i’ve imagined a tomorrow —

i keep hoping to wake up

and remember

it was only all a dream.