setting myself a place at the table.

i usually take out another paper plate
from beneath my bed when i see
the sky start to sprout freckles
of stars--
dispose of the moon when i'm done
so no one knows how
much ketchup i leave unused on the plate--
there's french fries cooking somewhere
or my mother is up early burning
together hash brown & scrambled eggs--
the dining table of my mattress
folds itself upside down--
my hair hangs like monkey bars
& i wrap myself in 
the table cloth my mother
sewed with Iris--
they pulled
strands of another rainbow from a
tear of dew when Eos set 
out the forks & the knives in the morning--
Electra stole me pillows from
her husband--
Zeus was always watching--
playing spoons on his knees-
set the table with me 
in the sky naked of clouds--
become naked of sky with me--
unbutton my shirt like
you would undo a comet--
let's eat like the gods who feast
on nothing but the thickness 
of the air
around the crown of a mountain--
freckles reflected in my
skin-- you said to get out
the fine china tonight
so i slid down my bed posts 
& into the basement 
where Hades tells Persephone 
how to fold the wash clothes 
& how to fold the dinner
napkins--
shows her to cover her lap 
when she eats-- 
i take one plate--
gold-rimmed like
the crust of the horizon--
climb back into they sky
to set the table--
the moon wore a skirt
ornate in arabesque--
i piled it high with
crusts peeled off of saturn--
piping hot sweet rolls
from mercury--
another cheese platter
set by Dionysus to help us
sleep as heavy as 
the onset of a cloud--
i hang upside down
at the dining table--
lick the fine-china moon
clean-- tie the dinner napkin
around my neck like a cape
i fall back down 
with you--
& you wake up 
with forks in your hands
& ask if i was setting
the table again 
in my sleep.