Tea-Time

Originally appeared in Broadside, Number 6, March 1991

This is how I seize the highway by its tail

And make my dollhouse right down the middle

With roadsigns and fence-fragments I spook all barriers

Charming material past its known potential

Shaving the first sticks of my finicky mansion

With Edwardian care and suburban aplomb

Don't think I'm not cocky as I smooth the foundation

Then dress the walls like Christmas cookies

Sorting out cardigan and spools of spice

Gingerly piling tiny goodies

Prissy as a teapot about to start his lecture

I'm sorry

Unbeknownst to relentless traffic and the shimmering truckstop

I make davenports and Black Forest cakes

A spinet piano and rosewood shelves

A bisque a bar a diamond-backed fireplace

A cornflower lamp for my lonely reader

And chests-of-drawers for happy cats bounding homeward

To the mute figures of my choosing

So while some dear dumbfuck pontificates upon nothing

I'm ready for interstate tea and mannequin rump

David Thomas Roberts (1990)

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