My poem, LAST WISHES, published by Ponder 11/25

LAST WISHES

I want bomb to end in with an e, a domed desert

with spumes of whipped cream, rainbowed

sprinkles, kirsch syrup, grand Marnier,

a Bombe of ahhhs and yums.

I want tort to end in an e, not litigated in civil court,

but a dense, flourless chocolate cake in three layers,

each slathered with buttercream or strawberry jam

or ganache, no bang of a gavel,

just the slide of a fork.

I want lava to be followed by the word cake,

with an ooey gooey molten center, not volcanic ash

and molten rock spewing on folks caught

in a last moment of horror, mouths agape, eyes empty

of eyes, petrified for generations of tourists to eye.

I want mud to be bookended by Mississippi and Cake,

chocolate layers topped with lumps

of softened marshmallow beneath a pour

of melted chocolate oozing down your throat,

not mud alone as homes sliding down mountains.

I want to open the glass case in a diner that displays

tall Coconut Cakes, those iced snow drifts,

and Apple Pies with steam vents in the center

like the O of awe, and Baked Alaska igloos

swirled with chocolate syrup.

I want to eat hunks of each with my bare hands

moments before I die and rise

like an Angel Cake into a buttery sky.