The Queens Of Hearts Discuss Certain Matters Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

when we in the faery bred furloughs from school yards dreamed
we felt it was cream coming down when it snowed.
and the solid red-green-blue-orange-lemon glow of

the Tree or the neighborhood eaves lined in spectrums
made it seem as though it wasn't just Christmas but
Heaven had come.

and butter rum life saver candies could be savored
or crunched, it was ours to decide or to ride
on invisible horses on the playgrounds,

the ones with the sequined bridles every Spring.
then we were idle and that's where we begin
the alphabet peculiarly ours: to sing-

that flowers into its own
without remonstrance.
and how and how

have the knaves with the red
raspberry tarts
absconded with this, too?

I ask you.

mary angela douglas 9 novemer 2015