All The Above (Revised) Poem by Margaret Alice Second

To seek pleasure I ate everything I love – in following
my guru’s advice I have a hard-as-nails headache &
a desire to hibernate – but I’m NOT a bear, cannot
slink into a cave for a season’s sleep – another

Favourite fantasy that gives me pleasure; I should
find a desire for feeling thin and athletic, writing
down the ideas in my head that might vanish like
chimeras if their existence is not honoured by

Clear expression; right now after non-stop munching
to fulfil my desire for pleasure discomfort is teaching
me to value the straight and narrow ascetic path in
order to do my work, to stop dreaming

Of being somebody else living a different life – Tiffany
Case in James Bond’s Diamonds Are Forever or Tiffany
Aiching in Terry Pratchett’s Diskworld series or
Anastasia Krupnik in Lois Lowry’s books

Definitely not me, a covert deep-sea diver, mermaid
mother whose merman son swept her along with him
during excursions to our underwater kingdom diving
in Cape Vidal – okay; definitely being ME since

Being me – by default – entails ALL the above!