WANNABE

I wanna be a semi-distinguished poet

a relative household name

in the households of all my relatives

I wanna do a book signing at a store

that will later slap 50% off stickers

onto all my remaining copies

I wanna go to a used book sale in the mall

and find one of my tomes misplaced

in the foreign language section

with a partially torn 50% off sticker

still clinging to the cover like some kind of skin disease

I wanna be a semi-distinguished poet

invited to travel half way across the country

where my sponsors will put me up in some fleabag hotel

and I will write a poem about the fleas

And I will give a reading for an audience of eleven people

who read about it in the local weekly alternative rag

Most of them will wander in late

And I want there to be one semi-attractive woman

who will approach me afterward

intent upon getting into my pants

This

to me

is the essence of true romance

I wanna be a semi-distinguished poet

winging my way home

lonely

and vaguely apprehensive about the future

beginning a new angst-ridden poem

plucking words from the rarefied air

and drifting into a cloud-shrouded dream

For One Shot Wednesday!