a flood comes to my house
washes away my wife
my children
all their books
and toys

i wait in the attic
with my old clothes
that picture of myself
dancing
and a coffee

when it is all over
i come downstairs
settle
in an old chair
by the fire

dry wood?
i did not forget to bring
my son's desk upstairs
after all
i built no ark
i sit there warming
maybe rescue a whiskey bottle
floating away with the receding
waters

yes
i am free to watch
Jeopardy
even a show about the loon

when the telephone rings
i hear only gurgling
it is my parents
asking me to unlock
the basement door
the key makes a satifying
plop
as i drop it
watch it and its Boaters' Friend
Unsinkable Keychain
bob across the living room
then out the front door
sorry folks, i say
must be with my Sinatra tapes
'wherever they are'
there's still
food in the fridge
and so i have a sandwich
but damn
can't seem to find the mustard

then it happens
my head fills with water
half my brain is washed away

it's hard to tell which half

certainly there are things
that i cannot remember
jerkin? gherkin?
no
i cannot recall

and when i think of myself
all that comes to mind is Cuba
the leafless stumps of trees

then i notice a guy
sitting in the chair
beside me
his entire body
is covered in hair
and he is chewing
is that an apple
or the head of a small child?
i'm not sure
how to engage him in conversation
but after a few false starts
we begin talking and he says
it's funny
how i have all this hair
and there you are
naked, smooth-skinned
and though it's true
my particular physique
is better adapted to the cold
you have the advantage
being able to signal others from afar
since the sun's rays
glint from your illuminated skin
that's a funny word isn't it
'glint'?
anyway, though i have
this shaving problem
and must eat
what shall we say
'apples'?

i can tell you that
it is possible for you
to begin to grow
the sticky buds of spring
in the empty half-shell of your skull
to oust your Castro

then he begins to pose
hypotheticals

let's say Julius Caesar
hops over the fence
a lady
gives you a shower
and this guy
at the train station
gives you a gherkin
then steps in front of a train
you throw a fish onto the lawn
it returns
with an olive
between its thin lips
glub it says
find me a martini
and oh yes
its time to turn
the sprinkler off

your wife and children
appear at the back door
greeting you with towels

hey you say
today i am Fidel Castro
you dive into the pool
furls of leaf
like small hairs
sprout from your body
explode in a satisfying
full Cuba of flowers

an ant
crawls carefully
around a pool of water

you step on it
examine
its satisfying smear

you walk into your neighbour's yard
sit down beside him
i'd like to ask
a few hypotheticals you begin