Dreaming with Jenny Ford in Malibu* and Beyond

Dreaming with Jenny Ford in Malibu* and Beyond

March up and back, stomp and kick on yoga mat. Upstairs the wife yells at her husband in rapid fire ten times at least. He’s silent. I move at top speed. What if I slam my toes into my desk, scream into the air. Jenny says, squat and turn your head. I love this move.   I do as she says.  Stomp forward, slide back. Upstairs the husband plays the scales three four, five times to calm his wife. Jenny says, you look great.

That night I dream I’m ankle deep in the sea. Jenny says, your water broke.  I leap from the bed, ankle deep in warm juice. Plath asked once, “Should I sugar and preserve my day?” 

In the delivery room my husband hands me a lollipop. The nurse says, "Too late for that, honey.” She yells, “Push, push.” I sweat and scream. The doc swings a dark eyed baby our way. We kiss, laugh, hug, and play.

Jenny says, hold the baby in one arm, run, run. She says, the fire’s at your back, hurry to the sea, boats will meet you at the bay. 

“Should I add sugar and preserve my day.”  

We jump and stomp, over burnt trees. I ask 

“Did we clean the glass? What will the landlord say?"

"Did you leave the Windex on the ledge?”

Jenny says, Race with the wind darling dears. You’ll be okay. See the sea.

“Wake up, wake up. Fire in Malibu!” I scream, leap from my bed, step in Popsicle red

“Dear we’re home, sheltered in place. The fire, a nightmare. See, turn on Amazon.”

Jenny says, See you next time in Malibu.

  

The upstairs husband plays The Russian Lullaby. So calm. We all breathe.

* Jenny Ford teaches aerobics on Amazon Prime

Mare Leonard

Mare Leonard lives and works in the Hudson Valley where she is an Associate of the Institute for Writing and Thinking and the MAT programs at Bard College. She has published 4 chapbooks and The Dark Inside My Hooded Coat was published at  Finishing Line Press in 2018 Her poems have appeared  in the following presses: Ariel Chart, The Naugatuck Review, Rats Ass Review, ThreeElements  Panoplyzine and  others. Finally she was nominated for a pushcart in 2018 for a poem in The Pickled Body