OPENINGS
( for Onelia )

The openings of famous novels
follow me around

for days on end

or just lounge around
waiting for me to say them.

The opening of MOBY ****
has gone for a ***.

The opening of A TALE OF TWO CITIES
has fallen asleep by the radiator.

The opening of PRIDE & PREJUDICE
is sipping a cup of Earl Grey tea.

“Call me Ishmael...Call me Ishmael! ”
pleads the opening of MOBY ****
returning from the loo.

“Have you washed your hands? ”
I ask it.

“It was the best of the worst of times...”
declaims the Dickens
confused upon awakening.

“Say me...say me! ”
they all clamour...crowding around me.

I just stare
at them in silence

wondering how
I got into this.