Front Porch Fantasies

As a child I played pirate

Converting our front porch

To The Queen Anne’s Revenge

And I the notorious Black Beard.

Sometimes I was riding shotgun

From that same porch

For the Butterfield Line

Warding off bandits and Apaches.

Let’s pretend.

Perhaps the same child

I once was

Peers at you from these eyes.

You imagine you love me

And I’ll do the same for you.

From this bed

You be Cleopatra and I Marc Anthony.

We could control kingdoms

Braced against pillows and blankets

Paying no heed to

Arrows and asps. 

Or we could be Bonnie and Clyde.

You could write poetry

While I blister the asphalt

In our stolen ’32 Ford Coupe.

We could rob the world

Of all its froth and passion

Lawmen and banks

Be damned.   

But the best possible fantasy

Is that you care for me

And I for you.

But for that we'll need more than a front porch.