Bill Yarrow

One day she took a lover, a Quebecois
mortician, who mollified her spirit as he
mortified her flesh. She found her escape
in a letter from her sclerotic brother whose
neurosis demanded companionship. She'd
fly to Escondido to be his renewal. On her
way to the airport, her cab was rear ended
by a bus. She suffered three broken bones.

Six months later, she was teaching theology
to refugees from est. Her brother was in rehab,
his prognosis good. She felt healthy and happy.
No clouds anywhere. Pregnancy does that.

I paid the doctor
You paid the doctor (a visit)

I relaxed
You relaxed (your breathing)

I saved you
You saved yourself (the trouble)

I got laid
You got laid (off)

I drove home
You drove home (your point)

I got fired
You got fired (up)

I see
You see (to it)

How strange are dreams! I dreamed the other night
A dream that made me tremble,
Not with fear, but with a kind of strange reality;
My supper, though late, consisted of no cheese.
“How Strange Are Dreams”
J. Gordon Coogler

I.

My supper consisted of no cheese
My marriage consisted of no violin
My persiflage consisted of no leitmotif
My future consisted of a ravenous Terpsichore

II.

My supper consisted of a violin
My marriage consisted of a leitmotif
My persiflage consisted of ravening Terpsichores
My future consisted of no cheese