Riding Backwards On The Doll Train, Heading Home Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Riding Backwards On The Doll Train, Heading Home
riding backwards on the doll train, heading home,
I lift my hand for a moment in watery sunlight
waving like the Princesss Margaret did a long

time ago in a fairy tale newsreel.
will anyone notice these departures
from the real

as they like to call it.
it's not likely I laugh
and bribe the engineer

with candy leftover from Easter,
purple and orange.
does it taste like purple and orange

my sister asked dreamily
from the dream time I am
no longer allowed to visit.

I don't know.
you try some.
and we traded baskets

the grass being the same sparkly green
on either side.
and imagined grand weddings

for the Bride doll
who looked at us mysteriously
forever with lilies in her hands.

mary angela douglas 23 march 2015