America

D. Gilson

In the dream, I am restoring a bungalow
born of the post-Great Depression boom
with my husband. In the dream, I am boring
but pleasant enough, holding plates and bowls

against the sunlight of original, single-pane
windows. I say things and he listens politely.
Jadeite, but the weight means probably
a late ‘80s reproduction. Things are possible

in the dream: the bungalow in Charleston
I could never afford; the husband; the child
we are choosing like a combo from a Chinese
takeout menu. Men adopt Schezwan chicken,

the headline from a local newspaper reads
in the Pottery Barn catalog dream on repeat.

D. Gilson is the author of Crush (Punctum Books, 2014), with Will Stockton; Brit Lit (Sibling Rivalry, 2013); and Catch & Release (2012), winner of the Robin Becker Prize from Seven Kitchens Press. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry, The Indiana Review, and The Rumpus. Find D. at dgilson.com.