Beth A. Fleisher

Hour 23

Prompt 23:  Write a poem about an imaginary pet or person. The poem can be from your perspective, the perspective of a neutral third party, or from the perspective of the imaginary pet or person themselves.

 

Perry’s Imaginary Dog

 

Perry always was a strange lad,

seeing pictures in clouds,

hearing voices from trees.

So when Perry said he had an

imaginary dog

we snickered behind our hands,

whilst pretending to listen

very intently to his stories.

After all, he was a good lad,

was our Perry.

Not a mean bone in his body,

always helpful to his Mum,

and didn’t he mow Mrs. Gracey’s

yard when Mr. Gracey was ill?

Yes, indeed, he did.

So if he takes comfort from an

imaginary dog,

we, all of us, we’ll let him have

his comfort and not bother him about it.

 

So, that was all well and good, don’t y’know,

‘til that one particular Saturday

when young Perry was helping me put fresh thatch

on the roof of my cottage.

I’d just gone down the ladder and picked up

an armload of thatch, put one foot on the ladder

to head back up,

when Perry yells out, “No, Scotty, No! Stop!”

And my word and williwigs if that

imaginary dog

didn’t run between my feet,

knocking me off balance, so I fell and

dropped the whole lot of thatch on the ground!

thoroughly disgusted, I told young Perry

he’d best be teaching his

imaginary dog

some manners!