Dreamed Wedding
by Sarah Del
ice melts in boot treads
drips onto the floor
forming a puddle below
the high table in the bar area
empty, save for two
grandparents, a six year-old boy
who pokes his cheesecake crumbles
spreads the raspberry sauce
over his face like a sated vampire
gloating in dominion
while I pull the olive off my sword
just to repierce it and suck
the vodka salt out of its cracks
red numbers slide down the wall
like rain drops slipping
down the windshield
the grandfather watches dollars become cents
ignores the plucked shrimp tails
flopping on his plate
this isn’t right, this isn’t right, this isn’t right
I plunge feet-first
into the pond below my chair,
come up for air in a chalice of red wine
at her table, Lindsay plans what kind
of fish to throw over her shoulder
to find out who will get hooked next
women will use medical masks as nets,
wear white dresses with red suns
there will be a bread bar after dinner
with orange marmalade, marshmallow fluff,
marmite, molasses
Their first dance will be to “I’ve Got You, Babe:”
I’ve got you to hold my hand
I’ve got you and all we’ve planned
I’ve got you to walk with me
I’ve got you through quarantine
I’ve got you to kiss good night
I’ve got you, we’ll be alright
I’ve got you I won’t let go
I’ve got you, we must postpone
By October the moon will turn red
like the suns on the dresses
overnight it will burn all to black
that will take over the day
crescent lips will kiss
if anyone can touch again
* Writing Prompt: COVID-19 transformed everything we experience into a splintered unreality. Write a poem about a disruption you experienced during this pandemic – major or mundane – imagining it through the even more surreal format of a dreamscape.
Sarah Del, a Salem native, holds a Master’s degree in English from Salem State University. After many years of teaching high school, and then working as a veterinary technician, she now spends her time inventing creative, crazy flavors of popcorn. “Dreamed Wedding” is her first published piece.