if this were the end of the world

(spinning inside the Zilker Park tree, Wednesday night)

If this were the end

                   of the world

          I'd shrug & go for a walk.

is my list completely bucketed?

                      not by many miles & maps.

& yet,

                if this were the end of the world,

I'd evoke the already-rambled cities;

           candles & hopes securing the heart & the globe.

(Chihuly Exhibit, Opening Weekend, Seattle 2012.)

Should this be the end of the world,

      I'd savor my coffee & crossword,

I'd water my plants,

                           file my nails,

     & simmer the soup.

         (pho with cousin John, Poulsbo.)

Could this be the end of the world?

               Ah well, 

      I've got spotlighted hours

                       with sequined joys & sparkles of singers

    diva flowers & diva-sized loves

(June with my darling California 'phews)

(meeting my Virginia sweetheart in September)

It's okay, 

                        if it's the end of the world,

      I've been aunted & auntied.

                & have the holy luck of bone-marrow friends,

have collaborated sinewy decades of mystical musical marvels.

(Preservation Hall, New Orleans, 2012 birthday.)

Let it be the end of the world,

   

                I've sung some blues, screamed some despair

                                giggled & kicked & pinned up my hair.

Here comes the end of the world,

                 I finish my truffle and mark my book.

© Laurie Dunston, 21 December 2012