16

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Once Upon a (Blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Example titles could include: “Once Upon a Time,” “Once Upon a Moon,” or “Once Upon a Stage Accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature.” Hey, a poet can dream, right?


god.  these are lame this time around.


Once Upon a Time


There was a house that split in half
in the middle of its floor
and the middle of its tree


It hovered like that
for awhile
as if made from imagination
as if past could disconnect
right in the middle like that
from present
as if waiting for someone
who knew
how to pull the ceiling
back down
how to match up the walls
how to live
like normal people do
on Tuesdays and Sundays
in the dark and in the light,
their world around them
like all that is safe
and ordinary
and right.