Then Beauty Said, To The Merchant, Her Father Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

then Beauty said to the merchant, her father...
oh just bring me back a pound of bacon and
a few ripe tomatoes, some bread,

a casque of mayonaisse...I crave the BLTS
we used to have in former days.

the story never went that way
my sister would have stamped her feet
I think but we were hungry on a summer day

so we dropped stitches in the story
and made BLTs in the Munsey toaster oven
and watched the roses boil from the

kitchen window, still sweet, but furled and
crisped in the Arkansas humidity
and mayhaps we thought of a story
where the princess ate rose petals instead
one thing for sure my munching sister

could have said
I would have been in total accord with
I'd rather eat BLTs any day
well, unless they were frosting roses.

mary angela douglas 25 march 2015; 19 november 2023

BLTS are in case you don't know, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. We never had this conversation but we could have. Our imaginations were coloured that way back then. I like to make up poem conversations that COULD have happened. Expanding the years that way, little moments in time catching hold of...and filling the pockets of, with extra sweets and deliciousness.