Fantasies
by Sondra Ball
When I was a child
I weaved words about myself.
I wrapped myself in blankets of fantasy.
The car I slept in was a castle.
The fish we caught from the creek
was the finest king's dinner in the world.
"Lies!  All lies!" you told me.
"Face it, girl!
All you got's a car
and catfish cooked over coals!"
But I never listened.
I believed in castles
more firmly than I believed in coals.
Walking barefoot on cold ground
never changed that.
Neither did starving,
or homelessness,
or the hard hours picking crops in the fields.
"Lies!  All lies!" you kept muttering.
"Get with it, girl!"
You died of an overdose before you reached twenty.
And I went to college.
           copyright 1997 sondra ball
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