Dead to the World

Digging further into
my Navajo print cocoon
hideout safe house
I defy morning to find me.
Six, seven, nine, eleven, noon.
Regret, for promises made, slips through me
like tart red wine
nearly warm enough to melt away
the bonds of duty made for today.
Plotting to be
dead to the world,
I curl in deeper.
The tenacious light,
a stream of sunshine,
detects me,
reminding me of those times
when happy days could be felt in the air.
I wish summer back into being
When mornings forced only one choice:
Sand or lawn, beach or park?
                    Where my only worry is

the waves depositing unwelcome grains
in my suit bottoms.
Where I could stop the interruption
of some well hidden cell
by driving my snooze button
down under the carpet.
Or silence the jingle jingle taunt of
the ice cream cart,
click click on the boardwalk,
with my own jingle jingle of
exact change for a blue tipped Rocket pop.
Stick my Smurf inspired tongue out,
over the battlements,
at those neighbour kids
eyeing my castles of sand.
Then chasing the critters back to their mothers.
                    Or . . .

sprawl in my miniature urban jungle
on the same quilt that I picnicked on
with Grandma, many summers gone.
Settle into the sweet spot
where I can see the wrought iron of
the outside world but can’t hear what is hidden.
The wind, playful in my hair, brings a whisper
of children’s cool, liquid laughter.
And the oak, maple and birch gather
round their carefully kept path,
inviting me further
into their world.
Turn off my cell, again, and turn into
the latest fantasy comedy character.
Slaying vampires and salesmen
between those pages that hold
as much promise as
                    sleeping in

until pitter-patter pitter. . .
Pounce.
Satisfied by the automatic belly filler
she made me buy for her dish and
satisfied that she’s made herself known
she leaves it at that
and curls into the V of my torso.
We dream of the wind in our hair
and of chasing critters
as we bask in that stream of sunshine
in our pretend summer for
                    just five more minutes.