Prepare....

I always wanted to be a good girl scout.
And when I wasn't...
when I wandered off on the way to meetings to stare at the Tinker Man...
scribbled on my sit~upon...
burned the house down on the way out the door to my first camp out...

I gave up.

And then I always wanted to dress up like one for Halloween.

Pretend to be a good Girl Scout...

To be prepared...


I wanted to parade around in my little green dress, and my anklet socks,
earning badges I was proud of,
and melting Smores on an open fire.

Instead,
I dressed up like hookers, and hippies, and David Bowie....
zombies, and witches, and a Box of Frosted Flakes...
faeries, and cinderellas, and neon bumble bees,
cowboys, and drunks, pregnant football players and butterflies...

I woke up every halloween and pulled a new face out of the chest of drawers, and wrote pretend Frank Kafka novels...
rang random doorbells...
And held out my bag for candy...

I don't have a sweet tooth anymore...

And I don't want to be a Girl Scout anymore...

Knock~Knock

I know you're there,
just on the other side,
rattlin' my chains
and tap~tap~tapping on my spirit...

Silly little ghosts,
phantom pains,
wayward boys...

You can't rock my world.

I wake up with lazy legs,
leftovers from dancing to the Black Eyed Peas....
with a new found smile,
courtesy of my latest tumble and another dip into the mayo jar and visit to The Man
with The Big Red Smile for a calling card.
I wake up to the cool hum of air conditioning still purring,
the filter, a cardboard mosaic I made myself,
to the sound of redbirds frolicking in
what used to be bouganvilla..
to the smell of yesterdays coffee,
run twice through,
and all the better because it's still brown...
and this...

an
irredescent butterfly trapped forever in my kitchen window...

Sometimes even

stray shots

in the night...

Are accidental pretties...

I have to live with it forever...

I hope you can....

Sometimes you have to...

Chalk everything up to experience....





And run away...


Find Sunshine in places you'd never think to look...

Sometimes,
you just have to
Pretend....