Chasing Utopia Read Online Free

Riding sideways like that would give her bad dreams so she sat up and drifted away. The Poet was enchanted. The Poet was under the impression she was the only one who could sleep sitting up and here we had the Administrator doing it.
    Probably it was the trust the Administrator showed when she closed her eyes. She entrusted her Wonderful Husband to the Director and the Poet knowing they would do everything in their power to make him comfortable. Whereas he was, indeed, the only man in the group, the Poet was the only poet so there was outreach. The Administrator leaned back and drifted deeper into a comfortable and safe place. The Poet took that as the highest compliment, since one will do many things with people but sleeping in their presence is a sign of true friendship. The Couple were taken home first. The Administrator awoke and her Wonderful Husband safely escorted her into the house. They blinked the lights to say Good Night.
    The Poet and the Director were then dropped off. As the Poet was taking her good clothes off to air and hang up, she, as was her habit, checked her pockets and there, to her surprise, were a couple of leftover Giggles. She remembered now that she had scooped some up when she had gone to the Ladies’ Room. Oh, Wow! Had they been brought forward the Administrator would have been allowed to stay awake and Giggle on the way home. Of course, the Poet justified, dinner was two hours longer than expected and there had been plenty of Giggles to go around but these would have made the trip home totally participatory. I should have remembered, the Poet admonished herself. I wonder, as had become a way of life between the two of them, how I can make this up.
    She thought and thought, then realized there was nothing she could do. It was a perfect evening. And everyone was happy. So the Poet did a wise thing: she put the Giggles under her pillow and danced and Giggled all through that night in her dreams.

KICK STRETCH KICK
    I wish I could
    Exercise
    While I sit
    In class listening
    To my students
    Pontificate
    I would stretch
    My legs
    And point
    My toes
    Then lift
    Each or the other
    To the top
    Of the table
    No one needs
    To know
    And I need to lose
    Five pounds
    Gee whillikers I wish
    I could stretch
    My mind

WHERE DID THE NIGHT GO
    I baked it
    In a biscuit
    And someone came along
    While I wasn’t looking
    And stole it away
    I had planned
    To take it
    For Show-and-Tell
    Naked I would unveil
    My prize
    The moon would dress me
    In moon dust
    The stars settling over
    My head
    And you with your arms
    Outstretched
    Would awake me
    Warm
    In the light of day
    While the night made its way
    Into the kitchen
    To become
    Morning pancakes

IT’S JUST LOVE
    it’s just love
    it won’t sweeten
    your coffee
    or ice your tea
    it won’t grill
    your steak
    or bake your crusty bread
    it certainly won’t
    pour your olive oil
    over your shredded parmigiano-reggiano cheeses
    it might make
    you laugh
    it’s just love
    it won’t rub
    your feet or your back
    it won’t tousle
    your hair
    or paint your
    fingernails Red
    it might make you
    want Red
    fingernails
    though
    it’s only love
    it has no coupon value
    though it also does
    not expire
    just me
    just you
    just love
    yeah
    good for nothing
    love
    throw it away
    when you get
    tired of it

STILL LIFE WITH APRON
    I would like to see you
    Cooking
    I would like for you to cook
    For me
    I would like to see you decide
    Upon a menu
    Go to the market
    And pick the fruit
    The vegetables
    The fish
    I would like to see you smell the fish Test the flesh for freshness and firmness
    I would like to watch you
    In the bakery
    In the bakery by the dinner rolls
    Deciding: Rolls or Crusty Bread
    I would watch you run back
    To get the Goat Butter
    I would like to be sitting in a corner
    And you
    Intent upon your meal
    Not noticing me
    When you go to the wine store
    I would watch you wrestle with red or white
    White, of course, because it’s fish but