POEM - She's Not Your Pretty

So, this is Kansas

Strange to think that I can even

remember the state’s name

We’d begun telling people

that we were born in Oz

Time really does have a way with us,

it seems

  

All Dorothy endured was a twister

She made stupid wishes,

and went home intact

You’ll be lucky to live with missing pieces;

a fearful future as the nightmare

which we cannot ever pretend

is just a dream

  

That yellow brick road was replaced

with a red injection

I’ve no poppies left to offer your bald body

Toto eventually died where he

believed himself happiest

And I dread the now-commonly claimed

notion that we’ve somehow been

in Kansas all along

  

Funny how you could see right through

the Wizard, yet you continue to look at me

like I’m a saving grace

For I am terrified of that overhead storm

we never stood a chance of escaping

Nature’s wicked witch cackles

in every corner of my empty head

  

But every time I slide your Ruby on for size,

I still believe in our happy ending;

knowing that we, at least,

have an ending left to share

And in such moments I feel

—Oz, or no Oz—

that home is what you and I

can’t help but carry with us

everywhere