The Body Poem Project: Want and Plenty

Want and Plenty 

It rains and rains, but there is no water,

Downpours soak, a crashing full creek, but empty sinks, 

We can fill the kiddie pools, but cannot flush the toilets 

In my dreams there’s barking, snarling, and six Goldendoodle pups,

I see neighbors I could appreciate and meet, 

Potential friends and progressive domestic harmony. 

Once black flakes of ash fell through the sky and spread over the sidewalk, 

The hotel burned, still under construction, almost complete, 

Firefighters moved through the dark sky saving nearby houses. 

Black flakes peel off my arm healing a bat tattoo. She wants to fly off, 

My arm holds the leashes for the dogs who wish to fly, too,

Every paw quick until they stop, go still, to sniff the ash. 

The dogs frenzy about their forthcoming breakfast,

Someone wants to make them home-cooked meals, everything organic, 

Whatever, how delicious and nourishing, they want it now, now! 

Who cares! Once we were starving! 

We want to eat, every day, more than once, at predictable times, 

Like now! You can’t even imagine how alive we are, how much!