Tweedledum

— from the Mad Hatter’s Dream Journal

In my dream he was weeping.
Huddled beneath an umbrella.
I’ve lost my other half, he said.
I told him I was sorry to hear.
Well, are you sorry to see too?
“No need to be insolent,” I said.
He twirled his umbrella. Where
is YOUR other half? I told him
I have no other half. How tragic!
With whom do you share oysters?
I said I didn’t care for oysters.
His curiosity seemed to stifle
his tears. Well, who then finishes
your sentences? When I told him
I finish them myself, he gasped.
Oh, that sounds perfectly dull.
Then he snapped the umbrella
shut, offering it to me. There’s
room enough for two—should
there ever be another one of you.

*

One Night at the Artist Colony

— for VCCA

A novelist from LA steered us from the polite
chitchat about our projects, asking, Would you
rather a sexless marriage to a bestie or a sizzling
sex life with someone you don’t much respect?

Sounds like you’re asking salt or sugar, I said.

Most chose salt, arguing it wasn’t a marriage
without sex. Which made me think Lot’s wife.
Plenty of salt there and we know how that went.

The gay guys struggled to see the dilemma.
Marry the cookies and hook up with the chips,
one blurted. Another pointed out how this
was yet another example of a stifling binary:
And who wants to waste time with that?

The poet, a newlywed, sat suspiciously silent,
staring into his spinach salad, poking at olives,
while the Southern sculptress started to reminisce
about her residency in Venice. Where dishes
are savory AND sweet. They go hand in hand!

But from the way her cheeks flushed, I sensed
she was recalling a dish more savory than sweet.

***

(Featured image from Wonderland Fandom wiki)