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!
