Dream Up A Storm [revised] Poem by Margaret Alice Second

Again my work station is a Fairy Kingdom;
donning a pink filigree scarf I became Pea
Blossom of ‘Shakespeare’s Midsummer
Night’s Dream’; inspired by the desire to
transcend my life I spread flowers on my
desk, and in front of newly acquired lilac
wings softly shimmering on a cupboard

To my right miniature roses amongst white
decorations - I’m translating al fresco with
no web or email, drinking a mixture of hot
chocolate & coffee to drown my throat’s
malignant instant soup taste; associates
in uproar over toxic fumes of a generator
lighting our sixth floor - which, we were

Told, was once a surgery. Scared a gullible
colleague, told her spirits of the dead keep
moaning - Go Away, Go Away - on seeing
her visibly shaken explain it an absurd joke,
sorry, but can’t help chuckling as I return to
my desk - now, how to spend what’s left of
the day creating new words while sucking

Terms off my thumb or joining workmates
in a melée caused speculating about the
state of our building; yet it’s much better to
play in my Fairy Kingdom, decorating hats
with bunches of flowers, enough of them
to dream up a storm…


[ORIGINAL: ]

My work station became a Fairy Kingdom, after donning
a filigree pink scarf I changed into the fairy Pea Blossom
in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, inspired by
a desire to transcend my life I spread flowers on my desk
as well as in front of newly acquired lilac wings softly
shimmering against the cupboard

Miniature roses amongst white decorations on my right, with
email & Internet off I’m translating al fresco while drinking a
mixture of hot chocolate and coffee to kill the malignant taste
of instant soup in my throat; my colleagues in an uproar about
the toxic fumes of the generator lighting our sixth floor which
used to be a surgery, we’ve been told

Scared a gullible colleague telling her spirits of the dead keep
moaning - Go Away, Go Away - on seeing her visibly shaken
explaining it was just an absurd joke and I’m sorry - but can’t
help chuckling as I return to my desk - how to spend the rest
of the day, creating new words while sucking terms from my
thumb - or joining colleagues in the melée

Caused by speculation about the state of our building, yet it’s
so much better to play in my Fairy Kingdom, decorating hats
with bunches of flowers, enough to dream up a storm…

[27 February 2014]