A Tale Of Two Expectations Poem by Dónall Dempsey

A TALE OF TWO EXPECTATIONS

Miss Havisham
clearing the cobwebs
escapes the book

'Wot de.. ' says Dickens
'I don't like the way I am written! '
Miss H has left the page

'You can stuff yer great expectations
up yer...! she screams at him
... 'Now...now...language...language! '

Miss Havisham is having a spring clean
of her mind
turning over a new leaf

'I'm flesh and blood! ' she claims
'Not just this thing
made of words! '

Dickens pins her
to the page
with words

'You'll read as you
are written! ' he demands
'By God madam...who's the author here! '

Miss H peering out
from behind the bars
of her print

Miss H
walking up and down
the cage of her page

Miss H
haunts the words
she appears in

Miss H
demanding a different
ending

Miss H
setting herself alight
the smell of burning words

Dickens falls asleep
she elopes with Heathcliff
from that other book

Heathcliff and Miss H
break up it was
never gonna work

Heathcliff still
carrying a torch
for 'Cathy..! '

whilst Dickens snores
she has it off with
Pip

Dickens awakes
writes the final word
she's trapped within THE END