Threadbare

tell me a story & make it a good one
the bear you summoned from the depths of sleep
is a hobgoblin for the exit of hotels
your patched umbrella reflecting notifications
doused in the finest kerosene perfume

tell me a story, my fine wicked friend
& make it a good one to bash out of houses
distaff & defaulted from one end to the next
demented like dragons forsaken repose
in the outlying fields
windswept & barren
but full of the most candlelit desires

tell me a story, you clever one
not half-remembered but colorfully dreamed
without distance
designed in the smoke of the city
forever insisting
to be misunderstood in the mind

& the heart enigmatic
a wonderful waystation
to endlessly tell me a story
& then fall to sleep