Imaginary Hollywood
By C. D. Wright
The set was on when she fell asleep
In black and white
a woman was gliding through a garden in period clothes
and a child was touching
a pane of wavy glass with the flat of her hand
Another woman
was all but flying down a spiral stairs in a flouncy gown
that showed off
the cut of her breasts and a lone golden strand
of hair playing at her ear
It was because of…she didn’t want to grow any older
her resistance
was strong the dream’s spores hung in the air
in another room
a parent was dying in short shallowing breaths
she needed
somewhere to put all of that emotional excess
that’s the way
it was when she began talking in fake accents
sleeping late
as a lake to avoid as many hours of living
dread as if dread
could be outslept; the stretch limo
in her eleven-year-old head wrapped itself around the corner
That’s the way
it would be, everyone slender as drinking straws
nobody leaky
or hurting or or abjectly religious, everything
allbillowyellowyorangeyflowywonderfulness
