In a Perfect World

In a perfect world, I think we would get to be the age we looked and felt our best. I’d be in my 40’s, and I would have stopped aging. Calories would not mean a thing. Perfect bodies need no rules of when, where, how or what to eat. If I wanted a Cinnabon, I’d have it, and then I‘d have one more. Haagen-Dazs would inhabit my freezer. Boxes of Lindor chocolates would adorn my pantry shelves. Doritos and cans of nacho cheese dip would be there as well. I’d have a man who pampered me. On weekends we’d go dancing. In summer we’d be on jet skis, partying with friends, and lazing about. Wait! It would be a perfect world. All year long would be like summer then. Probably I’d be on an island. Yes, in a beautiful home on a beautiful island. In a perfect world, people do what people want to do. Me, I‘d not be working! Robot people would clean my house. And since I would be rich, there would be no poverty in a perfect world. I mean, I would not want the guilty conscience of being rich while others would be poor. Everyone would have to be pretty much the same as me! I suppose the folks who love to work would still be working. Folks like me would be writing poetry. But wait! What would I have to write about? There would be no sacrifice, no pain. Where would be the heart in poetry? No injustices to speak out against either if all were free and living in ease. If we stayed young and didn’t age, nostalgic poetry would be a thing of the past. If everything were beautiful, could we appreciate the many things we had? We wouldn’t know how good we had it, If we had no misery to ever write about. On further thought, I have come to this conclusion. In a perfect world, there could be no real poetry - only pretty little posies in an already pretty world. What then, I ask, would be my purpose? Written Feb. 14, 2016. Note to Catie: Not sure if this is exactly free verse. In a short time, this was all that could come to me, but I enjoyed reflecting on the topic!