In Her Favorite Dream

the princess and the Pea moved out

the day before the Wedding

not wanting to make a lifetime

out of proving it over and over.

she got a small apartment-

you know the kind-

and adopted the Pea.

they lived on nana pudding

and poached tater tots.

on Sundays  she made it

patty cakes marked with a “P”

and it was happy

in the walk-in closet it lived in

where it barely breathed-

but you should have seen the bookshelves

in her favorite dream of the

same apartment, only larger-

and the rooms of hidden

marvels opening up, well past the

acorn furniture -  second-hand-

acquired at Christmas when the dolls moved out

lugging trunks in primary colors

with four costumes apiece

-across the permafrost…

“I didn’t know this was here”

invariably, she’d murmur in  silken dreamspeak-

turning the knob to another door

into private lobbies inlaid-

filled with Steinways, gladiola-  lots

of counter space-

and fountain Cokes;

Persian rose gardens of note with harps

that played invisibly-

and unexpected candy dishes;

pastel-pretty parasols

(the Pea was fond of these)

one for each time of day;

magnolia petals in a silver bowl…

world poetry of high degree and centuries full of moon and silvered branches…carefully catalogued

forgotten green perfume wafting

from two thousand Springs…

and in the breeze,

apricot curtains inset with saffron pears-

above a sink full of dishes

rainbow-bubbling clean

where she looked out to see

oh, everywhere=

a world where no one has

to prove who they really are

they just take your word for it=

mary angela douglas 11-12 march 2012

Note on the poem:  of course, this poem is based on Hans Anderson’s tale “The Princess and the Pea” where the Princess has to prove she’s real by not being able to fall asleep on a pea hidden under 20 or so feather mattresses.

The apartment dream is real in essence, if not entirely in detail; I’ve had it off and on for the last 20 years.  There is always in this dream a feeling of great happiness at finding unexpected space and a feeling of great peace and freedom.  Perhaps they are rooms of the spirit like the “many mansions” Jesus spoke of.  (in John 14).  ‘     “In my Father’s house there are many mansions…”

p.s. nana pudding is short for banana pudding made with bananas, milk , pudding mix and vanilla flavored thin cookies. Tater tots, as “fast-food” style tiny fried bits of potato, very small and appropriate fare for the small dwelling and the down-turned acorn dining-room table).