size matters or //the lessons you can only learn in oil lamps

“tight in here– “ i say
& wonder how he managed breathing
all these years,
“ouch, you’re squeezing my foot”,
“sorry”
“do you like him?”
“Aladdin?”
“i do, i
prefer a robber to a prince,
he falls for Jasmin though,
& i’m a ghost, like you,
like all of us– sometimes”

leaning against the lamp’s cool womb,

i was a storyteller once,
& every piece of nightwind, trail, bark,
dust particle, stirred up by the stars,
carries millions of ’em,

“so the sultan didn’t like your stories?”
“Yes, he did– he was afraid,
they had power, even
when they’re old, invalid, endLessly
told & retold, almost blind, but–
all the carpets fly by them”,

(we stretch a bit)

“you’ll get us out of this
with just a story– ?”
“you’ve got fantasy?”
“don’t think so– does it matter?”
“no”

cracks run up&down the wall,

“i have no feel for things outside the lamp,
that’s where my horizon ends,
been too long in this already”
“lost hope?”
“kinda”

“close your eyes”
“what ya mean?
it’s pitch dark anyway”
“there’s a difference– try”
“you see?”

“so, how did you survive?”
“i didn’t”

&i take my crutches

“gotta leave”
“you can?”
“sure– you can too“
every story has an exit,
& a bridge into the next,
———adventurously,
untold. yet

.

at dVerse, Mary has us write Disney poetry today.. just pick a Disney character & weave them into a poem.. this is going to be a fun session..looking forward to it.. doors open at 3pm EST