Today I will live like Billy Collins

This morning I woke to the sound of voices
tossing an argument to and fro on the radio.

Education Education Education.
Within seconds I was covered in sound bites.

So today I have decided
I will blame the dog I haven't got

say I'm hurt in hound bites
and I will live like Billy Collins.

I will slice apples at the kitchen table
sip sweet coffee whilst walking

across the lawn of my imagination
with Murakami as my companion.

We will untangle Morphy Richards and bake a loaf
with just the right amount of yeast

for nothing will go flat
when we rise above it all.

We will listen to a theatre of birdsong
fluting out their magic below the canopy

of a spruced spring skyline
the colour of which has never been seen before.

We will smell the garden blooming
inhale some pink or yellow from a hanging basket

plop the cork from a bottle of chardonnay
and chill in the first warmth since

oh, I don't know, since last whenever
as winter raised his blue middle finger.

Such things cost nothing.
I mean, no burn holes in my pockets

or a great deal of loafing
with pencil and paper planning.

Just a lie or two and a cheap phone call.
Bring it on! For today I will live like Billy Collins.